Ashwalker: The Phoenix Hero
by Cinderelynx
Summary: Izuku Midoriya was always a late bloomer. His quirk manifested at 6 years old, and he never developed a real resistance to the flames he could produce. When One For All is granted to him 10 months early, he finds himself blooming once again, finally given the power he needs to stand on an even footing with his best friend. Momo/Izuku eventually, many things subject to change!
1. All Men Are Not Created Equal

All men are not created equal. This was the most important lesson Izuku Midoriya had ever learned, at the harsh age of 6 years old. It had been two years since his closest friend had gotten his quirk, and he had been dreaming, wishing for a powerful quirk to match, to be able to stand up to Kacchan. And where else could it lead to but here?

"Stop it, Kacchan! Can't you see he's already crying?"

Katsuki Bakugou stared at the insect before him, who dared to stand in his way. Okay, so maybe he wasn't really an _insect_, not like the others were, but he was about as harmful as one. Deku was rapidly becoming a thorn in his side, but in the grand scheme of things, he would be little more than a thornbush on the side of his path to the top. He had two options: laugh in the weaker boy's face, or comply. Now that he thought about it, he had only one option, and it was hilarious.

"Deku! You still haven't gotten your quirk yet, and you still think you can be a hero? Move. Let me show off my quirk!"

"I won't let you!"

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. It was a little funny, but not enough to overwhelm the annoying part of it. "Deku, I won't ask again."

"I'm not moving!"

Really, it was kind of sad. Deku had potential. He was really smart and kind to a fault. What a waste of a heroic personality on someone with no quirk. That said, it wasn't unheard of for a quirk to manifest late! There might still be some hope for his friend. He'd have to stop getting in the way, though.

Katsuki set his jaw. "Fine, then. I'll move you," he said, sending an explosive swipe at the boy, expecting him to be blown away so he could continue his bullying.

Izuku was no fool, and he was definitely not a masochist. Kacchan spent way too long winding up his punches before throwing them out. This made them easy to predict, but not that didn't mean they were easy to dodge. The blow singed the front of his shirt as he stepped backwards, then jumped forward to shove the bully away. With his hands on his friend's shoulders, he pushed with all his might, and with a crash, his friend landed five feet away.

Burn marks coated his shirt.

Kacchan yelled, more surprised than in pain. "You got your quirk!"

Izuku felt a tingly sensation in his hands and forearms, and a building heat on them. He was on fire! It was his quirk, though, so he quelled his momentary panic and stared at it. Could he control it? Did it give him super strength? What did the fire consume? He had so many questions and so little time. The fire was really heating up now, passing whatever threshold for heat he naturally had and began to burn.  
"Aaaaah! Stop, drop, and roll! Stop, drop, and-" Izuku yelled, cut off by Kacchan running up to him and using his explosions to starve the fire of oxygen.

Deku would be mildly burned, but there if that fire didn't go out soon, it would be bad.

"You're still Deku. You might have your quirk, but what good is it if it hurts you?" he growled, holding his friend's arms in his hand and inspecting the damage. The skin was shiny and enflamed, as one could expect from a burn wound.

"T-thank you, Kacchan! I'm fine!" Izuku said, pulling his arms away insistently. The bullied boy had long since run off, leaving his friend and him alone at the park.

"Hey," Kacchan smiled, "you can make fire, too! That puts you above Bendy-Fingers in my book. His quirk is kind of creepy."

Izuku grinned tearily, the pain in his arms just barely bearable. His mom was going to have a fit when she saw the burns, but it would be worth it. He had a quirk! If he was right, it was just for now that his arms were burned. Like the rising hero Endeavor, his quirk just burned him because he hadn't built up a resistance yet. Given enough time, he'd stop burning himself, right?

Kacchan cheered him up on the way home. Sure, the boy could be over the top, but he had a heart. The name Deku had never bothered him, it was more how Kacchan had treated him when he thought he was quirkless. Now that he had a quirk, they were back on good terms, and that made everything okay in Izuku's books. His mom wasn't a fan, but Auntie Mitsuki insisted it was just boys being boys, banter between buddies. At any rate, it didn't hurt his feelings anymore, not with Kacchan's playful teasing back in his life.

"Auntie Inko! De- Izuku got his quirk!" Kacchan yelled into the apartment, taking a moment to smell the air. Inko must have been baking something when they came in, because it smelled delicious.

"Katsuki? I haven't seen you in so long!" his adoptive aunt called from the kitchen, taking a moment before coming out. Her little boy was still standing in the doorway behind his friend, a conflicted smile on his face. "Izuku! What are you doing out there? I'm baking cookies! Tell me more about your quirk, sweetie."

"I just, I, uh, I-" the boy stuttered, before Kacchan grunted and cut him off.

"His quirk burned him. He had fire on his arms, and he threw me like fifty feet!" he said.

"Oh, no! Izuku, sweetie, come here! How bad are the burns?" she said, speed-walking to meet him in the middle. She knelt down and held his arms in her hands, turning them over to see the glossy burns underneath. They were pink and looked painful. The boys' eyes widened, and they looked at each other.

"They healed!" they said at the same time, laughing with joy.

"Are you sure? They still seem burned to me. Here, let me get the burn kit, we should have one in the kitchen. You know your father used to burn things all the time?" Inko's voice faded as she walked away. Sometimes, it seemed like she talked to herself.

* * *

"... but you're all pretty much planning to go into the hero course, right?" the teacher said, tossing the papers haphazardly behind him.

The class turned into barbarians almost instantly, abusing their quirks the moment they got excited. Someone's neck elongated in a nauseating manner, another person pulled their eyeballs and whirled them around, and for some bizarre reason, a young man took off his shirt and screamed. Izuku was sure there were plenty of good uses for many of these quirks, but before he could think much more about it-

"Sensei! Don't lump us all in the same group. Deku and I aren't gonna be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"

Again, the class erupted in noise, and Izuku's face erupted as well; quite literally, in fact. He felt a tickle at the back of his throat and he sneezed a fireball into the air. The class quieted and stared at him.

"S-sorry!" he stuttered, turning a vibrant shade of red. It contrasted nicely with his hair.

"Don't apologize, Deku! Remember, they're below us!"

"Kacchan!" Izuku admonished, turning a further shade of red as the class looked at him in hostility.

"If I remember correctly, the two of you are aiming for Yuuei High, aren't you?"

It was impressive how quickly the class changed tones.

"That's exactly why the rest of you should shut up! We aced the mock test. There's not a chance in the world for the rest of you! I'm gonna surpass All Might, and Deku can- uh, Deku can be Number Two or some shit like that. Right?"

Izuku rapidly nodded his head. The first lesson he had ever really learned was: Kacchan was always right, and when he wasn't right, you kept your mouth shut.

The bell rang not too long after, and Katsuki slung his bag over his arm. "Deku! Hurry it up!"

Izuku tossed the rest of his things into his bag, careful not to damage his journals. He had been starting his thirteenth this morning, adding an entry for the newest hero. Mt Lady certainly seemed strong, but he wasn't sure if he liked the heroine. She had certainly hammed it up earlier, and did damage that could have been avoided by letting Kamui finish the job.

"You know what, nevermind. I've got some unfinished business, I'll meet you later," Katsuki said, walking out the door.

"Kacchan! Wait up!" Izuku yelled, but his friend was already gone. He trudged down the stairs alone and made his way past the koi ponds, catching his reflection in one.

"_Even these days, he doesn't seem to care much about me. It's like I'm just there to fill a role. If I just had a stronger quirk, maybe he'd think I'm worth something."_ He opened _Hero Analysis for the Future v. 13_ and began to write. It was a clinical way of dealing with his perceived shortcomings, but it helped. "_My quirk seems to be getting more intense, but I don't seem to be developing more resistance. If anything, my skin just burns faster and heals faster. I could maximize my damage by using it at the apex of a punch, and if I used it too much during a fight, my bones might deal slightly more damage than when there's skin over them. Testing how far down my quirk will burn would be painful, but valuable data, and could-"_

He stopped writing the instant he heard something out of the ordinary. Growing up around Bakugou certainly left one with heightened senses, careful to avoid getting pranked in one way or another by the boy. Behind him, about fifteen feet away, a gurgling noise came from the sewer grate. Wind rushed out of the pipe, followed by a green liquid with eyes.

Scratch that, a villain made of green liquid. He had quite the imposing stature, ten feet tall and broad, but was translucent. His intentions were even easier to see through: he was going to kill Izuku, and it was going to hurt the whole time he was dying.

Scratch the _was _part. _Is_ was now more accurate, since he had slime down his throat, in his ears, violating his nose. It smelled terrible and felt bizarre, like diving into a pool of muck. It pressed outwards on his sinuses and filled his lungs in the most uncomfortable way.

"Struggle as much as you want, kid, that'll make this faster. The sooner you suffocate, the easier this will be."

Izuku gurgled a faint response, fully aware of its futility, and activate his quirk. Fire blasted out of the slime, hotter than ever, and the man roared.

"Excellent! You've got a great quirk, too! You're my hero, thank you so much!"

"_That's fair. I die here, and he gets my quirk. If I can't use my arms, maybe I can…"_ he tried his best to think his way out of the sticky situation he found himself in. One of two things seemed to be happening: either the villain was getting more opaque, or his vision was starting to go. That would be bad. The back of his throat itched as the slime pressed against it, and he felt an urge to sneeze. "_Hey, that might work! Sneezing fire might have an actual use for once!"_

He sneezed with all his might, and the villain did too. Really, this quirk was a double-edged sword. He could harness the powers of another, but they could harness his power too. In another universe, he might have been a great hero.

Flame spewed from his face and he fell from the liquid, drawing in lungfuls of air and coughing up bits of slime.

"You little shit!" the man roared, slamming a fist into the boy. Every joint in his body popped as he was thrown down the path. He tensed and twisted midair to land on his feet, thankful for the years of training with Kacchan. Fighting a slime monster would be a breeze compared to a boy who could turn on a dime mid-air.

At least, that's what Izuku _would _have done in his dreams. In reality, he screamed pathetically and a huge man caught him midair, setting him down gently. Izuku began to hyperventilate when he realized who was in front of him.

"I'm sorry I got you caught up in my villain-chasing, civilian! Everything is going to be okay. Why? Because I am here!"

Izuku stuttered inconsolably as his idol performed his signature move just feet away.

"Texas Smash!" he bellowed, sending forth a punch worthy of the gods. The boy had seen this move hundreds of times, perhaps more than any other All Might fanboy had. He had certainly seen it more than was healthy. The wind pressure generated shredded the liquid form of the villain, making him easy to clean up.

Toshinori wasn't really sure where to begin with capturing a villain like this, but the eyes seemed like a good place to start. He felt a faint tugging at the bottom of his jeans and looked down to see the terrified boy holding onto his pants. "_A fanboy, perhaps?"_

"My apologies once more! I normally don't let them get this far ahead of me."

"A-all Might! There are so many things I'd like to ask you! A-a-autographs, uh…" he patted himself down before spotting his notebook sitting a few feet away.

"Okay!" All Might smiled. Maybe one day, the hero worship he received would get old, but until then it fulfilled one of his oldest dreams. This boy reminded him of himself, in a way. He clearly looked up to heroes. Maybe one day, he'd be old and retired and see this young man on- well, he was getting ahead of himself. _If _he made it that far, he could worry about that. He had much more pressing concerns.

"I would love to talk, but I really don't have much time. Pros are always doing something, right? Especially at the top, it's important to keep moving!"

"W-w-wait! C-can everyone be a hero? If I hurt myself with my quirk, and…" he trailed off, sure that he knew the answer. With a quirk that harmed him, there was no way for him to be a hero, especially if it was only getting worse.

"Of course you can! Even Endeavor used to injure himself! Many of us-" All Might swore under his breath. "I apologize, but I really must go." Steam began to curl off his body, and he prepared himself to jump.

"All Might! W-wait! There's something above us, don't jump!"

All Might tried to laugh, but it came out as a strangled cough.

"A-all Might?"

And before his eyes, his idol deflated. His body was gaunt, and his clothes hung off him like toilet paper on a tree. Worse than that was the look in his eyes, a mixture of panic and resignation.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this."  
"There's no way! You must be a fake! B-but… I saw it with my own two eyes. H-how? Were you injured? Is that part of your quirk? Nobody really knows how your quirk works, so maybe…" and off Izuku went, muttering under his breath at a rate a champion auctioneer would be hard-pressed to match.

"This kid… Listen, it's like those bodybuilders who flex and posture. Come, let's get this villain to the police station. I'll tell you more along the way."

"Are you sure it's okay? What if someone sees you like this?"

"Kid, would you recognize me like this? I'm about as far from All Might as you are from a piece of broccoli. Maybe further."

Izuku pulled himself off the ground, and they began to walk, carrying the bottle of slime villain with them. Appetizing. As they walked, All Might told him his story.

"About five years ago, I took a hit I'll never recover from. My left lung and my entire stomach were destroyed. The surgeries saved my life, but at a heavy cost. Right now, I can barely maintain my form three hours a day. It's been declining steadily ever since that fight. At this rate, I'll be retired or dead in the next two years."

"D-dead? But you're the Symbol of Peace! What will the world do without you?"

"That's why I'm looking for a successor. I've given up hope for a long life. Someone must take my power, and be the next Symbol of Peace."

"What do you mean by taking your power?"

Izuku had keen ears. Maybe someone else would have missed that comment, or thought nothing of it, but not Izuku. All Might coughed and wiped the blood off his hands.

"I, uh, I meant nothing by it, I assure you."

"Are you sure? You don't seem sure."

"A-absolutely! I'm not hiding anything. Why would I hide anything when you've already seen me like this?" All Might began to stutter, clearly nervous.

"People have always questioned your quirk, and how you seemed to come from nowhere…" Izuku trailed off, leaving his question unsaid. He had a hunch, and his hunches were normally right.

"There are some things the world isn't ready-" All Might said, looking to the boy. The moment he took his eyes off the path, a biker rushed past and knocked the bottle from his grasp. The plastic bulged out as the villain pushed with all his might, and the lid shot off like a rocket.

He was free! Now, he just had to get away from this weirdo and the kid. Maybe he could find another body to possess and get the hell out of this town.

"Shit!"

* * *

Riku Watanabe had a problem. Several problems, if the bruising on his ribs was any indication.

"You're gonna have cash tomorrow, hear me?" Katsuki growled, every other word punctuated by a kick to the boy's ribs. Maybe this was overkill, but he wasn't in a forgiving mood.

Not since a girl in the class below them had complained to him. Everyone knew that Katsuki was the top of the food chain in their grade. Even in years before, he'd been at the top of the school; nobody messed with Katsuki Bakugou. He hauled the boy to his feet and pinned him to the bricks of the alley.

"C-come on, Katsu-" his sentence was cut short by a brutal punch. "What happened to the bro code?"

"Life happened. We haven't been friends for a long time, Riku. I don't like people who prey on the weak. What kind of hero does that?"

Riku did his best to look tough, but he was at his wit's end. What could he do versus an opponent like this? All he had was long fingers. Great for feeling someone up, not so great for fighting a guy who could blow you away with a single punch.

"Y-you're not gonna get away with this, K- Bakugou. My dad works with the police department! This'll go on your record!"

Katsuki laughed at his nerve, and put his palm on the boy's forehead. Explosive sweat dripped off his hand. "Sure. Run to daddy. I've got testimonials from that girl and two of her friends, you won't get off easy either. If that's what it takes to get you to leave people alone, I'll do what has to be done."

The boy's eyes widened, and he made a strangled gasping noise. Katsuki dropped him, and he stumbled towards the street on all fours. Something was wrong here, and it definitely made its presence known.

"A medium-sized invisibility coat, with a strong quirk? This works fine for me!" the voice announced, thick and greasy like the aftermath of an American-style burger.

Katsuki whirled around just in time to eat a punch to the face. Literally, the slimy appendage forced its way into his trachea, cutting off all the flow of oxygen to his system. Two more tendrils yanked his arms towards the man, threatening to pull him into the slimy mass of his body.

"Gafem!" Katsuki screeched through the slime, his meaning clearer than his words. _Get off me!_

"Oh, yeah. This is damn near perfect. Shouldn't even take twenty seconds before you're out like a light."

Katsuki grimaced, the slime now covering his body. It was odd, like wearing a mask. His arms were completely immobilized, as were his head and legs, but he could move his fingers. Cupping his hands, he let loose a huge blast which forced the slime out of his mouth and let him breathe a single lungful of air. "_Shit, I gotta get out of here. Maybe if I make enough noise, a pro might show up?"_

He strained against the slime, the exertion and warm fluid sending his sweat glands into overdrive. Explosions roared out of his palms, lighting garbage bags on fire and hurling the villain into the light, barely clearing a pedestrian. Another explosion splattered slime across the sidewalk, but the villain kept his hold on the teen, barely giving him a chance to breathe.

"This would be so much easier if you just died!" the villain yelled, struggling to contain the boy.

"DIE!" Katsuki screeched, releasing a huge explosion. He was faintly aware of the chaos he was causing, but he saw people pooling at the end of the street. If he could keep the villain distracted, they would be safe.

Heroes began arriving on the scene. A watery rescue hero and the super-strong Death Arms held back the crowd. The two heroes exchanged a look: neither had the right quirk for this job, especially when they were fighting a fire and keeping civilians safe. Besides, wasn't All Might in the city? Surely he'd show up sooner than later.

* * *

All Might panted. Logically, he knew he was injured, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing to be beaten in a race by a scrawny fourteen-year-old. Izuku and he had seen the smoke rising, and had come to the conclusion that their escaped villain was the one causing the mayhem.

Izuku couldn't quite see over the crowd, but he was hesitant to leave All Might behind, especially in this state.

"Al-" he began, before the older man clapped a hand over his mouth, and pulled him away from the crowd.

"Don't say my name! Remember, nobody knows about this except you and I. Nobody _can _know about this. Call me Toshinori. I suppose if you know my secret, I can't just keep calling you kid."

"M-my name's Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya."

They returned to their place in the crowd, and he craned his neck to get a better view of the situation. It was hard to hear over the din of the crowd, but he could faintly make out explosions at the end of the street.

Several things clicked into place at once. Someone nearby mentioned a hostage, a middle schooler who had been captured by the villain. He didn't know anyone else with an explosion quirk as powerful as Kacchan's. The most important detail was something few people would hear over the chaos: Kacchan's trademark "_Die!" _followed by a powerful explosion.

His feet moved long before his brain realized what was going on, and Toshinori missed him by a hair.

"Young Midoriya, no! You'll get yourself killed!"

The crowd parted reflexively, seeing the kid barreling towards the situation. A few quick-minded individuals tried to grab him, but it was too late - he had hopped the barrier and was running full speed into the smoke. The fire around him danced to his footfalls and swirled in eddies towards him.

"Kacchan!" he screamed, activating his quirk to its fullest potential. Green fire roared out of his hands as he made contact with the slimy mass, steam rising as he reached through to his friend.

"Not you again! Back off!" the villain swung his fist, sending an explosion into the air where that annoying kid had been standing a moment earlier. "Where'd he go?"

Izuku didn't have time to be proud of the smooth slide between the legs of the villain, and grabbed at a patch of fire nearby. The fire on his arms swelled, and he punched upwards with everything he had, rewarded with a sickening slosh as the villain's arm was sliced off. Kacchan's arm poked through. He would have burns later, but more importantly, he had an opening.

The boy grabbed his friend right as a massive explosion blew the villain to one side, and Katsuki to the other. He was wrenched from the slimy mass, barely clearing it as the man grabbed for him with his good arm, and landed harshly on Deku, tumbling to the ground.

"Deku, you idiot! Now we're both gonna die!" Katsuki grabbed his friend and ran, careful to avoid the slimy arm that was doing its best to turn them into pulp. It reared back and came down faster than he could react. Both of the teens flinched, but no blow came.

"I must admit, I'm ashamed of myself. Everything will be alright now. Why? Because I am here!" Toshinori smiled, outwardly maintaining his trademark personality. There would be hell to pay later. Overdoing his limit was never a good idea, but that's why he was searching for a successor. Perhaps he had found what he was looking for.

"Detroit Smash!" the hero roared, punching forward and grabbing the villain's eye. The sheer force blew his body away, leaving only the eyes and mouth. The entire street rumbled, and hurricane-force winds extinguished the remaining fires. A vortex of debris and heat roared into the air.

"A-all Might?" Katsuki wasn't normally one to fanboy, but his bravado would have to wait. This was the real deal. Tiny droplets struck his face, and for a moment, he thought it was sweat. The implications sank in as the sky darkened: All Might had changed the weather with just his right fist.

The crowd was split between cheering and getting under cover, but not the journalists. Cameras began to flash, and somehow they weren't as bright as All Might's grin. They flooded into the area as pro heroes and police gathered bits of slime, and began to interview the number one hero.

Izuku and Katsuki were pulled aside by a policeman, to where Kamui Woods was waiting. Much to Katsuki's concern, Izuku didn't begin gushing over the pro as one would expect of him. Instead, his friend was swaying a bit on his feet, leaning slightly against him.

"Deku?" he asked, eyeing his friend. His arms were burned from the elbows down, but that was common with his quirk. His friend's face was bright red and his eyes were unfocused. "Where are the medics? We need to get him looked at," Katsuki growled at the pro, who was clearly distracted. "Hey! I asked you a question."

Kamui Woods was a proud man, but by no means was he an idiot. The disrespect in the boy's tone didn't sit well with him, but he had a point. "We'll get the both of you checked out, but the medics are tending to a pedestrian who was caught in one of your explosions. It's going to be a minute or two before they can look at you. Patience is a virtue."

Katsuki opened his mouth to insult the man's intelligence, but the words didn't make it out before his friend collapsed.

* * *

When Izuku woke up, he was on an unfamiliar bed. This definitely wasn't his bed, no, the sheets were too scratchy and the pillow too dense. His last memory was Katsuki slamming into him. Everything before that made sense, but he ought to remember something after that. After all, he was alive. He _was _alive, right?

Something made a beeping noise to his right. Taking stock of the situation, he felt warmth to his left. Someone was definitely by the side of the bed, with their hand on his upper arm, where the bandaging ended.

"_Bandaging?" _he thought to himself. Sure enough, a pressure wrapped its way down to his fingertips. If he had been captured by a villain, he wouldn't be this well taken care of.

He opened his eyes slowly and nearly regretted his decision as his mom began to cry.

"Izuku! When I saw you on the news, and Katsuki, and All Might, and you were in the background, and you fell over and-"

"Mom, I'm fine. What happened?" Izuku asked, somewhat sure he already knew the answer. After Katsuki landed on him, he must have hit his head or something, and All Might must have been there to keep the villain off them.

Inko Midoriya took a deep breath, trying to quell her tears. Beating the Midoriya waterworks was difficult, but she'd been managing it for forty years. Okay, _maybe_ Izuku made things more difficult than they had to be, but she was his mom and she had a right to cry. Why couldn't he be one of the boring kids who never got into any sort of trouble?

She sniffled. "I heard an explosion, and you were already late getting home, so I turned on the news and there was that awful villain, and when I saw him use that quirk I knew it was Katsuki. And then you showed up and ran straight in, just like- just like All Might would have. I couldn't watch it, but I couldn't _not _watch it, not with you in there!" she said, stuttering as she held back the tears. "A-and I couldn't see much through the smoke, but I could still see the fire, and then it all turned green and an explosion happened and you and Katsuki came running out and I saw _him_ chasing you, and right when I thought he was going to get you, All Might showed up out of nowhere and took the hit for you!"

"All Might was there?"

"Yes, All Might was there, I'm sure of it. Actually, I think he was here earlier, too. One of the nurses said someone wanted to talk to you when you woke up."

"How long have I been out?"

"Two hours or so. They were worried you wouldn't wake up until tomorrow, but they said it mostly depended on how exhausted you were, and how bad your concussion is."

Izuku winced. He knew there had to be a good reason to end up in the hospital, but he had hoped it was just exhaustion and the burns on his arms.

"Are they keeping me overnight?"

"They'll check on your burns, but I think they were only going to keep you if you didn't wake up before sunset. I'll go tell them you're awake!" Inko said, needing to step out to regain her composure, anyway.

Izuku sighed as his mother closed the door behind her, looking at his bandages. With a quirk like this, he didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of becoming a hero. Helping save Kacchan felt amazing, fulfilling a dream he'd had for as long as he could remember, but he'd instantly been incapacitated. He couldn't even remember the aftermath! If all his efforts only landed him in the hospital, what point was there?

His musings were cut short as a woman walked into the room, followed by his mother. It was a routine examination, with one unusual detail: his burns were gone.

"Interesting. It's not out of the ordinary for someone to heal quirk-based damage faster than normal, but it's certainly useful. Your concussion seems to be healing quickly, too. Be careful with your head, and if you bump it again, we'll have to bring you back in for another examination. If you have any dizziness or nausea, come back in. You seem like a bright boy, don't do anything dumb," the nurse said, packing a vial of blood into a biocontainment unit. One could never be too cautious with samples these days, especially with quirks that weren't fully determined.

The sun had long since set by the time the Midoriyas made it back to their home, and Izuku wanted nothing more than to take a month-long nap. Unfortunately for the boy, life had other plans: the moment he settled into bed, his phone vibrated on the nightstand.

Blearily, he opened it. Perhaps it was Kacchan texting him, or an automated message from the hospital, or-

"_Yagi Toshinori? How'd he get my number?"_ Izuku thought to himself, swiping open the messaging app. Were it any other name, he would have dismissed it as a scam - his fanaticism for All Might was well-known at his school, and he wouldn't put it past some of the meaner students to make a fake account.

"_Midoriya, I'd like you to do me a favor. I have more to talk to you about, much more. Meet me at Dagobah Municipal Beach Park at 8 AM tomorrow?"_ the text read.

"_I don't know if my mom will let me. I'm recovering from a concussion" _Izuku sent back. The situation was surreal to him; in just the span of a day, he had met his idol, saved his best friend, and now he was turning down a chance to talk about the number one hero's secrets?

"_Please? I must admit, it's nice to be able to tell someone new about these things,"_ Toshinori responded seconds later. Clearly, he had no pressing matters to attend to. The boy had a brief and absurd image in his head of the scrawny man in an oversized All Might onesie. He shuddered and resolved to never think of that again.

"_I can try to sneak out at 6 and pretend I was on a walk? I might need you to bail me out if she gets suspicious. Just pop by in hero form and she'll be happy."_

"_Deal! I'll even bring breakfast, we can have a picnic!"_

Izuku shook his head in disbelief. His idol, the most powerful hero to ever live, wanted to have a picnic on the beach at 6 in the morning.

* * *

By the time the alarm he had set went off, Izuku had already gotten ready. Forgetting to turn it off had nearly been his downfall. Since his mom was a light sleeper, she came to see what he was doing awake so early. It was only a stroke of luck that awarded him the chance to leave: he had been in the process of making coffee when his mom had walked into the kitchen, and assumed he was making it for her. He would let her think he was being thoughtful. He felt a bit guilty for deceiving her, but he was sure she would understand if he were to tell her _which he could not because __**holy crap he was going to discuss secrets with All Might**__. _

While she had been concerned about him going on a "walk" at a quarter past 6, he managed to make it out by promising her he'd have his phone on him the whole time. Silently he thanked whatever deity had granted him a strong constitution, recovering from a concussion overnight was a superpower in and of itself.

Crisp air breezed around him as the bustle of his town started up, souring as he neared the beach. Really, it was less a beach and more of a trash dump, where currents washed forgotten things ashore and dishonest people tossed their scraps. It was a shame, too, since the beach used to be a beautiful place to spend the morning.

"Young Midoriya! Good morning!" a stick-like figure called from below him, standing on a patch of dirty sand. "I brought eggs!" he smiled and held up two lunch boxes like an excited schoolgirl.

Izuku ran down the steps to greet the hero, and they made their way between heaps of trash towards a somewhat-clean jetty. A small, roofed structure sat at the end of it, providing a good place to eat breakfast without worrying about sand and rubbish flying into the food.

"I'm here to learn the area because I've accepted a teaching position at Yuuei High."

Izuku's eyes widened. "You're going to be teaching at Yuuei? That's amazing!" he said enthusiastically, setting down his utensils. "I'm going to-" Izuku's voice faltered as he thought about his chances. "I was going to apply there, but after what happened yesterday, I don't know if I should. What good is a hero who always gets injured?"

Toshinori's eyes lit up. "That's one of the reasons I asked you to come here today, actually. If I recall correctly, you picked up on what I said about a successor yesterday. One of the reasons I decided to take this position as a teacher was to look for a successor, but I think I may have found one already," the man smiled at Izuku, at least until the boy asked who it was. He coughed away from the table, blood spraying into the wind. "You!"

"M-me!? But I was just saying how I don't know if I should even apply! I only hurt myself yesterday, and Kacchan and I could have died if you didn't show up when you did!"

"That's exactly my thinking, young man. You moved before anyone else did. You ran headfirst into danger to save a friend, and I've got the feeling you would do that for everyone if you had the right quirk for the situation. I can help you in that department!"

"You want to teach me to use my quirk properly?"

"Well, that too, I suppose. It's more than that. I've deemed you worthy of inheriting my power!" the man said, standing up to let the wind ruffle his hair. He certainly had a flair for the dramatic. "My quirk was passed on to me like a sacred torch, a crystallization of all those who came before me! If you would have it, I believe you have what it takes to be my successor."

Izuku's jaw hung open. His thoughts were somehow both blank and moving at a million miles an hour, sort of like when a fan was moving too fast to see the individual blades so it looked transparent. "Y-your quirk? You want to give me your quirk?"

"Well, not as you are now. The power would make your limbs explode! No, what I'm suggesting is that I tutor you until the day comes that I feel your body can handle it. Either that, or I give it to you now, and we work our way up, maybe let your body get acclimated to it as it grows… I didn't think this through very well, did I?" Toshinori looked embarrassed. Teaching this boy would give him much-needed practice, not that he was going to say that to his new student.

"W-wait a minute, can we go back to the part where you said you wanted to give me your quirk? Sure, nobody really knows much about your childhood, or little details like when it first manifested - actually, nobody knows anything about you before you debuted! In fact, I can't think of a day that goes by when I don't have a passing thought about it! I see it online all the time! But I don't understand what you mean by inheriting or passing on a quirk, and…" the boy droned on, and began to mutter under his breath.

"Midoriya! Breathe. You're turning red."

"Oh, yeah, breathing, that's important. And what about the limbs exploding part? That seems kind of important. How does this quirk inheriting process even work?"

"I'll show you, on one condition: you agree to take the power and responsibility that comes with it," really, though, Toshinori just wanted the boy to stop talking for a moment. Few people he knew of could mutter that fast, and even fewer were people he felt safe around. Principal Nezu of Yuuei, for example, talked under his breath a lot, and normally it felt like he was simultaneously planning your death and orchestrating the best way to make your day perfect.

"Why would you give something so amazing to _me_ of all people? I'm just… I'm just a fanboy," Izuku said, doubt evident in his voice.

"Not this again. I told you, it's because you moved without thinking. In a way, you remind me of myself when I was younger."

"I remind you… of you?"

"Yes. Now do you accept the power or not?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"Of course you have a choice. It would be a lot easier if you said yes, though, because you already know all about my injury, and because you already planned on applying to Yuuei."

"Then yes, I'll accept your quirk."

"Alright! Eat this!" Toshinori reached to his hair, and pulled one out by the root.

"Your _hair_? You want me to eat your hair?" Izuku cried, incredulous. When he imagined passing on a sacred torch, he didn't think it would be something as mundane and gross as a piece of hair, even Toshinori's admittedly amazing hair. All Might's bunny ear hairstyle was subject to nearly the same amount of conjecture as his quirk was, with some people going so far as to say they were the same thing.

"Trust me when I say this is the least gross way to do it. The only way to pass on a quirk is through transfer of DNA."

"You couldn't have, I dunno, baked a drop of your blood into some brownies?"

Toshinori stroked his chin for a moment, thinking. "You're right, I suppose that would have worked. Either way, it's not my problem anymore! Keep that in mind for when you give One For All to someone else, a few decades from now."

Izuku grimaced, and tentatively took the hair from the man. He twirled it around his finger, bundling it up into a tiny little ball, and swallowed it whole. Gross, definitely gross, but he really couldn't feel it after a minute or so. "I don't feel any different."

"Of course you don't! How do you think your stomach works? Give it a day or two. Since you accepted, I have to file some paperwork with the school, and declare that I'll be mentoring you for the next ten months. It helps to avoid conflict of interest claims from parents, and legal stuff like that. I won't bore you with the details!" Toshinori said, beginning to back away from the table. "I'll message you when you should meet me here again! We've got a lot of training to do, young man."

"But how will I know when-" Izuku called to the man, who was now about twenty feet away.

"Just text me! It's a lot of paperwork!"

* * *

**A/N: Well, there's chapter one done. 7,190 words, somewhere around 24 pages. This quirk concept came to me while I was listening to a song, and I don't think anyone's really done it before. I didn't realize how much I missed writing until I started writing this, and didn't stop. We'll see how long I can ride the muse out.**


	2. But They Can Become Equals

**Before we begin, I'd like to thank Dark Paladin for being the first reviewer of this story. There are always firsts - first followers and favorites, Mike202303 and Raven Marcus, and first words: for this chapter, they're...**

* * *

The first thing Izuku noticed about One For All was its absence. By now, he thought it would have manifested in some dramatic way, but he hadn't seen anything obvious. When he thought about it, he had put on a lot of muscle and height in the past eight months, but that was probably just hormones. Right? That, and weird dreams. Someone kept appearing in his head, a tall silhouette of a woman with six shimmering lights around her.

One For All wasn't the only thing absent from his life. All Might - no, _Toshinori_ at this point - was a harsh taskmaster. Every weekend was monopolized by the man, every waking hour was spent doing something beneficial, and every sleeping hour was scheduled to the minute. He'd been unable to hang out with Kacchan for a while, and it was beginning to frustrate his best friend. The only times he'd been able to sneak off for some time with his best friend, he'd had to spend most of the time sparring in preparation for the entrance examination at Yuuei.

He missed Kacchan, but he couldn't just take time off. The only way he'd ever be able to stand on even footing with his friend was hard work and months of dedication. Pride didn't come easily to him, but he was proud of how far he'd come since being given One For All. If not for Toshinori's training plan, he would have been sure he'd been pranked.

Toshinori was an interesting person. A year ago, if someone had told Izuku that he'd be on a real name basis with the number one hero, he would have assumed they were mocking him. Now, though, he was reprimanded for calling the man by his hero name. No, Toshinori much preferred to go by his real name, he had precious few people he could trust to keep his secrets. It was surprisingly lonely at the top of the rankings.

"Izuku!" Toshinori called, interrupting his quiet musings. "I got your text!"

His mentor was standing on the sidewalk above the beach, smiling down at him. Toshinori's gaze swept over the spotless sand, seeing no sign of the trash that had been piled in heaps over decades here. Truly, his successor had impressed him. While his original plan had called for at least ten months of hard work, Izuku had completed it in only eight, and in no small manner. Even at the height of his expectations, he didn't think the boy would clean the whole mile-and-a-half stretch and go back to sift through the sands for hidden bits of trash.

No, Izuku didn't do things by half. Left to himself, the boy would surely have taken it upon himself to devise a method of cleaning the oceans, too, but that would be left for another time.

"Young man, I'm impressed! I wish I had been here for more of the process, but pros are always busy, even when we're not fighting crime."

"That's okay, sir!" Izuku grinned up at the man. He wished he had been here more often, too, but he understood the pressure Toshinori was under. His grin faltered slightly as a pensive look appeared in his eyes. "Now what, though? The beach is clean, and I've still got two more months before the exam!"

Izuku shivered a bit. He hoped Toshinori wouldn't ask him to keep cleaning. As much as he was glad to be following in his footsteps, the only place left to clean would be the ocean. There were ways to avoid going in the water, but even going out on a boat in November sounded cold. Add to that the certainty of cleaning the ocean floor, and froze up just thinking about it.

"Battle training! I came to make sure you had completed your task, but I assure you I never doubted you!"

"Battle training?" Izuku asked, his heart beginning to pound. This was it! Finally, he'd be doing something more than moving trash. He was grateful for the few sparring lessons he'd had with Kacchan. Any experience would help when it came to battle training, surely?

"Yes! I'm going to teach you how to fight. That's important for a hero!" the man spit blood as he raised his voice to reach the boy at the end of the beach. "Come with me, Izuku! Let's find somewhere to sit and talk. I can't yell too much these days!"

Izuku scrambled over the sand deftly. In his opinion, a beach was a very good place to train your body. Running on soft sand was difficult, but it taught him how to balance properly, and after a few sore days he'd put in the effort to learn better running form. He'd even invested in some boots that wouldn't get sandy like his old trainers did.

* * *

Battle training was an enticing idea, one which certainly justified being out of bed at this hour. Four in the morning would seem ridiculous to many, but not to Izuku. Running on just a few hours of sleep was more than enough for him. The past eight months had been difficult, but sleeplessness had never been a problem for Izuku, much to his mother's chagrin.

Going back to his earliest days, he had been a light sleeper like his mom. As an infant, he'd woken up multiple times a night. His toddler years weren't much better. By the time he was old enough to remember, he'd lie awake at night, wondering about the world and when he'd get his quirk. He'd never grown out of his introspection.

Sleep was for people with time to burn, and Izuku knew too much about burning to do that. As he walked to the bus stop to make his way to Yuuei, he pondered on his quirk. How would it interact with One For All? He hadn't used either quirk in ages, spare a single time when he'd used it as a candlelight in the middle of the night. Toshinori's quirk hadn't even manifested yet, which was concerning. What if he was fighting someone and he accidentally punched them with All Might-level strength?

The bus ride was uneventful, which didn't help his thoughts at all. Breaking down a villain fight he saw out of the window would have been a nice break from his concerns.

He steadied his breath as he arrived outside Yuuei. The gates loomed over him for the first time, but the guest pass Toshinori had issued for him worked. Mentally, he was going back over every fight he had ever seen, every time he'd been beaten by Kacchan, and the martial arts he'd seen in movies. At one point, years ago, he'd been so desperate to dream of being a hero that he'd practiced a few moves and kicked a vase off the counter. His mother wasn't too happy about that one.

Toshinori was waiting for him in the lobby. "Izuku! How are you feeling today?" the man's trademark grin was locked in place. Even in his shrunken form, he was an admirable sight. It quelled some of his nerves, but he still wasn't sure what to expect.

"Nervous!" Izuku tried to laugh, but it caught in his throat, and his cheeks burned.

His mentor laughed with him, easing the boy's awkwardness. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Let's get going!" he said, walking past Izuku and towards the doors.

A cart waited for them outside. It looked a little bizarre at first, like Toshinori was going to go golfing, but it was much better than walking around the massive campus.

"So what exactly will we be doing today? You said battle training, but what does that entail?"

"We're going to have you practice throwing a punch at a person. I think I know how to get One For All to activate, and I wouldn't trust anyone else with fighting you. There's always the chance you could blow them away on accident."

"T-that's one of the things I was worried about, actually. What if I punch you too hard?"

Toshinori laughed in an only slightly humiliating way. "I might be injured, but that's why I've taken the day off! Even if you were as strong as me, it wouldn't hurt that bad. At worst, you might throw me off my feet. Don't sweat it!"

That took a lot of weight off Izuku's shoulders. Maybe it should have been obvious, but hearing it in words did a lot to alleviate the worry.

Shortly thereafter, they arrived at a wide clearing. The ground had been worn down over years of use, and at some point had been cleaned up for more professional uses. It reminded Izuku vaguely of the setting of the Yuuei Sports Festival in years past, minus the stadium. Beside him, Toshinori grew in size. To Izuku, this was the difference between the man and the myth, his friend and mentor Toshinori versus his idol All Might.

"This is where we'll begin!" he said, and strode forth. "Punch me, young man!"

He looked at his fist. "With One For All?"  
"With all your might! One For All will come to you with time."

Izuku stretched his arm for a moment, circling it around his shoulder, and walked to a position right in front of Toshinori. He reared back, and shot forth his fist with the entire weight of his body, twisting with the blow.

"Ouch!" he yelled, holding his fist. "You're made of steel!"

Toshinori boomed out a laugh. While his apprentice had a clear grasp of a good punch, it was a far cry from a One For All-backed one. "Try again! This time, visualize punching with more force than you could possibly generate, and then do your best to achieve that!"

Again, Izuku threw the strongest punch he could. Most people would at least have the air knocked out of them by the force, but Toshinori didn't budge an inch. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing! Actually, your punching form is very good. If I were an average guy, that punch would have put me out of commission. I don't have many tips for using One For All, it came to me naturally."

"It came to you naturally?" Izuku asked, unsurprised. It was difficult to imagine Toshinori struggling with anything practical. "How does it feel to use?"

"Well, it's like an overflowing of power. At a base level, I'm stronger than the average person! Even without One For All, I could go toe-to-toe with a quirkless bodybuilder!" he coughed, then continued. "Or at least, I used to be able to. My point is that whenever I use One For All, I'm not punching with just my natural strength. I'm letting something else flow through me."

Staring at his hands, Izuku tried to imagine what Toshinori was saying. The closest thing he had to One For All was the quirk he had been born with, but he didn't want to activate it for longer than a second or he'd burn himself. Fire flickered into existence briefly, extinguishing itself just as soon.

He took a deep breath and punched Toshinori once more. This time, he imagined the feeling of fire roaring through him, overflowing in his muscles and bones. Again, he was disappointed as his fist slammed painfully into the man's chest.

For a brief moment, Toshinori could swear he had seen sparks on Izuku's skin.

* * *

It took more than two months before Izuku finally managed to use One For All. Twice a week, he'd been going to Yuuei to practice fighting with Toshinori, but simple punching wasn't enough to manifest the powerful quirk. They'd advanced past the basics with speed most people would be hard-pressed to match, moving onto actual fights in their fourth week.

Izuku dove under a punch and ate dirt. "_Where's an opening?" _he asked himself, spitting dirt out of his mouth and rolling away from the much larger man. Even pulling his punches, All Might was an unbeatable opponent. As his mentor turned, he lifted his foot briefly, and Izuku darted forward. The action reminded him of what he'd done versus the slime villain that had captured Kacchan, but this time, he spun on the tips of his toes and lashed out with a powerful kick to the back of Toshinori's knee.

His opponent fell to a knee, but Izuku knew better than to revel in a successful hit. Keeping the momentum of his first blow, he switched the foot he was pivoting on, and attempted to slam the back of his foot into the side of Toshinori's face.

Toshinori was much faster than Izuku. He had decades of experience fighting villains with much more power. He caught the kick with his hand, wrapped his fingers around Izuku's ankle, and threw him through the air, proud to see the boy land with proper form. As far as they still had to go, Izuku had certainly come a long way.

"You're going to have to be faster than that to defeat a villain like me!" Toshinori grunted, kicking off the ground and swinging forth with a humongous- amount of force. If it connected, it would probably incapacitate Izuku, but he wasn't worried about that. Aside from the fact that he wasn't _really _aiming to hurt his student, Izuku was agile and smart. Toshinori had purposefully telegraphed his punch.

That certainly didn't mean it wasn't terrifying for his ears to pop when Toshinori's fist sent hurricane-force winds past him. Trees parted on the edge of the clearing a hundred meters away, dust rising in the cold air. Something in his heart twinged painfully as he stumbled over his feet, leaping away from the still-extended fist. This was a new occurrence; up until now, Toshinori hadn't used One For All even once. If he thought this was difficult beforehand, this wouldn't even be a contest now that Toshinori wasn't pulling his punches.

Izuku knew his mentor would never seriously injure him, but facing the man was a lot scarier now that he was using his quirk. Beforehand, he hadn't needed to worry about super strength and speed. Toshinori began to wind up for another punch, rushing at Izuku in the blink of an eye. Again, he rolled to the side. His heart raced and his lungs burned, adrenaline pumping in his veins. At his current level, Izuku didn't stand a chance. His muscles would have to put out more force than they were physically capable of, and as much as the adrenaline flowing through him helped, it wasn't enough.

Toshinori flew towards him once more, and Izuku knew he couldn't react in time. In slow motion, the fist grew larger as it made its way towards his face with probably lethal force. His teacher's face went slack as he realized he was going to hit Izuku, but he was already in motion. Understandably, Toshinori was both relieved and confused when his fist hit nothing but air. Izuku gasped as his back hit the ground, and he lay there for a moment.

"Toshinori?" Izuku said between breaths. "I think I did it."

"I nearly hit you! That was too close for my liking. I think you did do it, though!" Toshinori said, hiding the panic in his voice. "At that speed, you definitely would have been hit if you didn't. I must admit, I was anxious about trying that, but… Nothing else seemed to work."

"I don't think I can get up," Izuku said. His legs somehow felt like both lead and rubber at the same time. His head pounded, pain pulsing out from where it had slammed into the ground.

"That's enough for today, then. Do you remember how it felt to do that?"

"Well, it's kind of like adrenaline. Adrenaline only pumps out when you need it to, and it feels like super strength for a moment. One For All feels kind of like that, but where adrenaline feels like a cold rush, One For All feels like my entire body is being warmed in a microwave. It's surprisingly gentle!" Izuku smiled. He was sure he'd done it! Unfortunately, when he tried to stand up, he overdid it, and succeeded in nothing but tossing himself a few feet into the air.

"My boy!" Toshinori said, catching Izuku. "It certainly appears you've activated One For All!"

* * *

Two weeks later, Izuku found himself at the entrance to Yuuei for what could be his last time. Even an hour early, the place was packed, and he began to wish he'd come even earlier. Instead, he'd chosen to get a bit of extra sleep, but between the noise and Kacchan's abuse of strangers, his nerves were killing him.

Katsuki was in top form today. On a bad day, he would have been expelled before even getting into the school! Today, though, he was brooding. He shouldered his way past someone and made his way up the stairs, glaring at extras (who wisely moved out of his way).

"Deku! Don't fall behind me!" he yelled, looking over his shoulder at the boy. Over the past few months, Deku had put on a lot of height, making him nearly as tall as Katsuki was. From his position on the stairs, he could look down on his only friend. He'd never admit it, but he took a sort of pleasure in being above him. Not that his superiority was in any question.

Izuku quickened his pace, not wanting to give the boy any more excuses to embarrass him in public. The stairs disagreed with his plan, though, and tripped him up. He would have fallen on his face if not for a hand grabbing his backpack and pulling him to his feet. His face turned scarlet, and he turned rapidly to thank his savior.

"It would be bad luck to fall on your first day, don't you think?" the girl said, flashing a bright smile. Even on the step below Izuku, she was tall enough to look him in the eyes.

"Y-yeah, t-thank you!" Izuku stammered, looking to the side. He twirled his hair around his finger. "_Oh my god, I'm talking to a girl, what do I say? It's just my luck. I can't even talk to Kacchan without stuttering, how am I supposed to talk to a girl?"_

"Are you alright? You're turning red."

He let out a nervous laugh. "I'm fine! I'm definitely fine. I just-"

"He's awkward and thinks you're pretty. Come on, _Deku_, let's go," Katsuki grabbed him by the backpack and pulled him away. "I'm not gonna save your ass all the time. If you're lucky, she'll end up in our class, and then you can start flirting."

"I wasn't- that's not what I-" Izuku tried to stammer out a defense, but couldn't get the words out. They walked silently to their seats in the hall and passed the next hour analyzing the quirks in Izuku's thirteenth journal. So far, he'd only added a handful: Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, and the beginnings of a fight he'd seen on the news while working out. When those analysis pages ran out, he turned to the next, and quickly slammed the journal shut.

Katsuki wasn't one to be denied, though. He yanked the book from his friend, and turned back to the page his friend hadn't wanted him to see. "What the fuck is this, Deku?"

Izuku hid his face in his hands. "It's nothing, don't worry about it! C-can I have my journal back?"

"Not until you tell me what this shit is! _Super strength? Enhanced speed?_ _Possible effects on your quirk?_" Katsuki growled, whispering to his friend. Present Mic was on stage now, and he didn't want anyone overhearing.

"It's nothing, I swear! Just some n-notes I took while working with my tutor…" Izuku said. This was bad. If Kacchan figured out what was going on, he was going to blast him into the next life. Getting a quirk from the number one hero would probably be seen as some sort of cheating. Nobody was allowed to beat Kacchan in anything.

"Are you on drugs? Is your tutor giving you steroids or something? What the fuck, Deku?"

Before he could respond, a student several rows ahead of them stood up. The two of them suddenly wished they had been paying attention as the boy questioned Present Mic about misinformation on the pamphlet that had been handed out. Quickly, they pulled the pamphlets out of their pockets and scanned them, pretending to have a clue what was going on.

"And you two, back there! Quit whispering to each other! If you are here to socialize, you should leave immediately! How shameful of you to distract the rest of us before such an important exam!" the severe teen said, mechanically chopping his arm up and down.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. He'd humor the extras for now, but the second the exam started, all bets were off. He was going to murder the competition and get an indisputable first place, that would teach Mister Glasses down there a lesson.

It didn't take long before the speech was over, and they were on their way to separate exam sites. Izuku did his best to ignore his friend glaring at him as they walked away, fully aware that he was going to have to explain himself later. He took a deep breath to clear his mind. Kacchan could wait.

Getting on the bus was a new experience for Izuku. Up until now, he'd traveled around Yuuei on a cart with Toshinori. The one place he hadn't been to was the farthest reach of the school grounds, where the exam would take place. His mentor had been adamant that they avoid those to prevent an unfair advantage being given to Izuku, as if One For All wasn't too much of an advantage already.

Much to his chagrin, the severe boy from earlier sat next to him. "You! I remember you from the entrance hall. You're the one who was muttering the whole time, are you not?"

"S-sorry about that! My friend and I had seats next to each other, and he took something of mine…"

"That's understandable! My apologies for assuming the worst of you. My name is Tenya Iida," he said, extending his hand. Izuku took it and did his best to smile.

"Izuku Midoriya! I'm glad to meet you. Your name sounds familiar."

"You would probably be thinking of my older brother, the pro hero Ingenium!"

"Your brother is Ingenium! That's so cool!"

They made small talk for the short duration of the ride, talking about pro heroes. Iida was much nicer than he had expected. It seemed he was simply earnest, and more anxious about the exam than he let on. Everyone seemed to be on edge as they arrived at the site.

"It's like a whole city! They have multiple of these here?"

Izuku muttered under his breath, rapidly calculating the number of sites there would have to be, and came to the conclusion that there were eight skyscraper-filled cities built just for the exams. His new acquaintance simply shook his head and began stretching. Deciding Iida had the right idea, Izuku began to run through the stretches he'd done daily for ten months. One For All's soreness began to fade as he activated it and worked his overcharged muscles into fighting form.

In his head, he began to strategize. These robots couldn't be lethally powerful, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be easy to fight. In years past, the entrance exam had left multiple students rather severely injured. Without the on-grounds hospital, Yuuei would never have gotten permission to do such dangerous tests, but true danger brought out the best and worst in people. In any case, the exam would be rough, and Izuku would have to be careful to avoid getting injured.

Speaking of injuries, he flicked his middle finger out and flared his quirk at the same time. He hadn't quite gotten the hang of controlling his fire's temperature yet, but in a tight spot, he was sure he could use it to burn a hole through a robot. Even the fraction of a second of fire generation left his finger steaming in the air. If he wasn't careful, he could burn his hand to the bone.

"START!" Present Mic shouted, standing somewhere between all eight cities. Nobody could see, but he rolled his eyes as the students stood still. "There's no countdowns to a disaster in the real world! If you want to be a hero, run!"

The ground cracked lightly as Izuku bounded past the gates, leaping over his fellow students' heads. Robots crawled around the cityscape, crowded the roads and scaling the sides of buildings. One shattered against Izuku's steel-tipped boots, another broke to his fist.

"_Two points already!"_ Izuku smiled, enjoying the gentle warmth of One For All. Tiny flames flickered in his wake as he bounced off the side of a building and grabbed a two-pointer by its scorpion-like tail, using his momentum to throw it down the road, skidding and slamming into several robots. Perhaps forty-five seconds had passed, and he was doing well.

His left leg spasmed painfully as it complained about the overuse of his new powers. Keeping One For All at this level would only damage his body, an unacceptable prospect for the teen. He couldn't crush robots if he couldn't move his legs. Resolving to be more careful, Izuku slowed down, dropping his output to three-quarters of what he'd been using. While he wasn't sure how strong he was compared to Toshinori, he estimated it was around three percent. If Toshinori could create typhoon-force winds with a half-assed punch, he had to be way stronger than even high professional estimates.

He'd have to think about that later. Now, more than ever, he was grateful for all the man had done for him. At six minutes into the examination, he should have been gasping for air. Being this active for this long wasn't something he thought he could do. The training sessions with All Might had paid off big time.

Down the rubble-coated street, he could see Iida. From the way his shins were bruised, Izuku could tell his friend was doing well. As he watched, catching his breath, Iida performed a flawless roundhouse kick and disabled a three-pointer. His friend rocketed off, disappearing past a flaming robot.

A bright blue light struck another robot, the metal superheating and cracking as the robot slumped to the ground. Following the trail, Izuku could see a blonde-haired boy suggestively thrusting his hips towards another robot, looking distinctly uncomfortable. It was an odd mixture of actions and expressions, but the boy had a powerful enough quirk to be of note. By the way he was destroying robots, it seemed that he would pass the exam.

Izuku took a deep breath and imitated the move he'd seen Iida use moments ago, sliding under a slow-moving projectile from the three-pointer. This marked his fifty-first point, though he may have miscounted at some point. Over the communications speakers, he could hear Present Mic shouting something. Vaguely, he heard "two!" and assumed he must have two minutes left.

He was both wrong and right. With two minutes remaining in the exam, Present Mic counted down from three and pressed the huge, shiny red button, laughing as he unleashed chaos upon the prospective students. This was where true grit would be tested - not in the face of tiny robotic villains, not in a burst of heroism, but in the final minutes of the exam, where true heroes would push past their exhaustion and help each other.

Izuku was a little ashamed to admit he nearly pissed himself as the building next to him shook, showering him with dulled pieces of glass. He could hear his fellow test-takers cry out, and dust rose from the other side of the building. Closing the distance by passing through an alley, he came face-to-face with a very crushed one-pointer. To his right, an absolutely colossal robot swung its arm into a building, which groaned and collapsed under its own weight. Much to his horror, he could see someone trapped just feet from the robot's treads.

With no time for caution, Izuku rushed towards her. "Are you injured?" he shouted, reaching under the concrete. Rebar stuck deep into the asphalt, and Izuku's stomach dropped as he realized there was no way to get the slab off her. Either he'd have to pull her out, or he'd have to wait until the exam was over with to get help from a pro.

"I think my ankle is broken, and I can't reach the concrete to use my quirk! Quick!" the girl was almost hysterical, shielding her face as they were pelted by rubble. Popping sounds assaulted their ears as concrete exploded under the force of the robot's treads.

Helplessness threatened to overcome Izuku. If he could just be stronger, he could blow this thing away. It was less than twenty feet away and closing fast. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head, one that he couldn't simply ignore. Not in the face of someone who needed help.

"I'll save you, miss!" he said, running away.

"Come back!" the girl cried, struggling to get free of the concrete. She took one last look at the boy, despairing as her savior retreated. As she watched, though, he pivoted, and for a moment she thought she could see green fire floating in his wake. He smiled at her, crouched, and-

"_Holy shit!"_

* * *

Tenya Iida considered himself a decent man. Tensei had told him so himself! His older brother was the smartest, strongest man he had ever met, and he admired him more than anyone. Ingenium could save anyone. He never ran from danger.

So why was he running? Logically, he knew the massive robot was worth no points and existed only to bother them. There had been no warning of the size of the robot, it had been on the same scale as the rest of them in their informational pamphlet! Yuuei was surprisingly underhanded so far. This was the greatest hero institution in Japan, surely there was a greater reason they introduced the robot?

The teen turned, looking back at the robot. It reared back a fist, and Tenya's heart cried out as he saw a person trapped under the rubble. She'd be killed instantly if that punch landed! His engines roared to life as he began to run back, but someone was faster than he was. Before his eyes, the boy from earlier - Midoriya - appeared from nowhere. Something sparkled in the air as the boy crouched, and-

* * *

Toshinori sat in the only room on campus that overlooked all eight cities. Now that he thought about it, there were quite a few benefits of working with the prestigious academy. From here, he could see all the action, though his eyes were trained on one specific city. His successor was doing an amazing job! Proudly, Toshinori watched as Izuku handled One For All. It was nowhere near as strong as what it would one day be, but he hadn't blown up his limbs! The training had worked! Unfortunately for him, there was a monkey wrench thrown into the situation. The massive zero-pointer had been thrown into the scene, and rubble had pinned a girl to the ground.

"Izuku!" he cried out in horror, seeing his student run towards the injured girl. "Get her and get out of there!"

But there was no way to move her, and he knew that in his heart. He'd seen this story happen before. He'd seen it a thousand times. Someone he couldn't reach, someone who had bled out before he could get to them, someone who needed help when he'd reached his limit. Surely, they'd stop the exam before anyone was killed!

But the robot did not stop, and he watched as Izuku uncharacteristically charged away from the girl. He turned, and the remaining flames of One For All shouted in Toshinori. There was no way his boy would just leave an injured civilian like that! Even without hero training, the boy was much too heroic for that.

* * *

From where Katsuki stood, he could see the robot rampaging on the other side of the city. Further away, he could see six others, and the last robot was hidden by the tall command tower centrally located between all eight cities. The tallest building in Katsuki's city was a great place to keep an eye on any remaining robots and stay out of the way of the zero-pointer. Even so, it was definitely getting closer. He'd have to watch it.

The other zero-pointers seemed to be having fun. Katsuki didn't remember anything of this scale from years before, and it concerned him. There was something terribly off about the situation, and he couldn't pin his finger on it. Maybe there was a reason for the increased difficulty? Something caught his eye in a city several sites away. A green comet blasted into the robot, sending it flying. Several seconds passed, and a shockwave rippled Katsuki's hair.

"Not fair!" he shouted, blasting himself off the building in the direction of the biggest opponent he could see. There was absolutely _no _chance of anyone showing him up, damnit. He was Katsuki Bakugou, and he would be the best or there would be hell to pay.

* * *

Izuku blasted off the ground with as much force as he could muster, leaving a scar of fused asphalt where he stood. His arms coated themselves in fire, and as he soared through the air, the increased flow of oxygen flared them to a size he'd never been able to reach. Vaguely, he was aware of glass shattering as he flew down the street. In less than a second, he crossed more than a thousand feet, slamming into the robot at maximum speed.

A massive cloud of ash erupted out of the back of the robot's head, and a huge puncture wound appeared on it. Izuku's entire momentum had been transferred to the robot instantly, and it flew backward, lifted off its hundred-ton treads and collapsing. With a massive crash, it slammed into the ground, falling apart and bringing buildings down on either side of it.

Now that he was falling, Izuku felt nauseous. The pain was more intense than anything he had ever felt, and he'd burned all the skin off his arms more than once. Really, it had been dumb of him to put this off for so long, but he'd never tried to use both quirks at once. Of _course_ One For All would make his quirk stronger. Quirks were just like muscles. Delirious, Izuku wondered what Toshinori's quirk was.

As the road rushed up to meet him, Izuku was glad he'd said something nice to his mother that morning. He'd hate for his last words to be something dumb, like "don't forget to buy banana bread!" Had those been his last words? He couldn't remember. His leg was flapping in the wind, which definitely wasn't healthy. It was definitely broken, and the running outfit his mother bought him was ruined. If he survived this, she'd kill him.

He smiled one last time. If he was going to die, he'd do it the way he'd want his hero to. Not that he wanted All Might to die! It was just that All Might did everything with a smile. Was Toshinori proud of what Izuku had done? Would Toshinori come to his funeral?

Fate seemed to hate Izuku that day, because it slapped him in the face before he could hit the ground. Actually, it seemed like the girl he'd tried to save had slapped him. He deserved it. Running away from her when she needed help, what had he been thinking?

The blood rushing in his ears rushed to his face as he came back to a sane line of thinking. He was alive, he'd saved the girl, and he was now floating. He kept his eyes screwed shut, waiting for the ground to hit him so he could splatter.

"Release," the girl said, breathing heavily. "Are you okay?"

"I think my legs are broken," Izuku whispered, unable to find his voice. Those last few inches hurt.

* * *

Ochaco shut her eyes tight as she reached out her hand to save the boy from a messy death. He'd just blown away a huge robot with a single punch! What kind of hero could do that? It reminded her of All Might's power, with the notable exception of the ash cloud. Fire had exploded out of the boy's hand when it touched the robot, releasing the brightest flash she'd seen all day. She was still seeing green when he began to fall.

She opened her eyes. Seeing the boy before her, though, she regretted it. His legs were red and rubbery, and _oh god his arms were gone._ Whoever this boy was, he certainly had a hell of a power. It was disturbing to look at.

"Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly, turning her head away from him and wincing. Stupid question.

"I think my legs are broken," he responded.

A new voice appeared, this one much older than theirs. "Oh, dear. I knew this was too much."

* * *

Izuku still hadn't opened his eyes, he realized. This new voice sounded familiar. Every year, at the end of the televised entrance exam, he recalled seeing the Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl! That must be who this was!

"Recovery Girl!" he shouted, opening his eyes to see her.

"Stay down, young man! You're severely injured!" the elderly woman said, beckoning two robots to prepare a stretcher. Seriously, what was Nezu thinking, pushing students this hard? This boy had lost both of his arms, and his legs were clearly shattered, and he was still trying to get up.

"Severely?" Izuku muttered. He didn't feel a thing! It had hurt a lot earlier, but all the pain was gone now! He rolled over to the protests of the woman and looked at his arms. That wasn't good.

Both of his arms ended at the elbow, charred beyond belief. His stomach rebelled, and he turned his head to the sight, groaning as he released his breakfast. Yeah, that was definitely not good. All the pain returned at once, and tears formed in his eyes.

"M-miss Recovery Girl? I think- I think I know what to do."

"You're going to do nothing, son, until we get you to the hospital. This is beyond the reach of my quirk alone, I'm afraid."

"N-n-no, ma'am, it's j-just that I've never tested my quirk like this, and I think I can- I think I can put my arms back together."

Recovery Girl paused. She'd seen her fair share of quirks that injured the user. Granted, it had been quite a while since she'd seen something that went this far. Back when Vlad King, who now oversaw Class 1-B, had entered Yuuei, he'd damn near exsanguinated himself. When she'd gotten to him, he'd been white as a sheet of paper and dried out like a piece of jerky.

"Let's see it, then."

Izuku focused as best he could through the pain. He could _feel_ something out there, calling itself back to him. Even when he'd burned himself as a kid, the flames had called to him. Instinctually, he pulled on the presence, drawing it towards him. The pain hit him instantly, and he screamed in agony, writhing on the ground as the cloud of ash condensed above him, swirling like a tornado down towards him.

Cementoss was glad he'd been called to this site as he threw up a protective barrier around the boy. Who the hell was this kid? He could barely hear himself think over the roar of the wind, and before he'd put up that barrier, the heat had been unbearable. The stumps of the boy's arms had begun to glow like embers when he'd pulled that cloud towards him. If he hadn't been here, Recovery Girl and that young woman who had been trapped under the rubble would have been roasted. When the cloud had collapsed, and the screaming had stopped, Cementoss pulled down the barrier, and all those present gasped.

"Well, that's impressive," he said, looking at the boy. His outfit had been charred, barely preserving his modesty, but he had arms again. Personally, Cementoss would trade a teal-colored sweatshirt for functioning arms any day.

"Are you-" Recovery Girl began, but didn't bother finishing her sentence. It didn't appear the boy would be able to respond in any case. His eyes were closed, and his arms still glowed faintly, releasing a ton of heat. Air shimmered upwards and the ground bubbled beneath him.

"Get him off the ground!" she ordered, and the robots moved to pick him up. Before they could get any closer, Cementoss stopped them with barriers, choosing instead to move the boy himself. Those flimsy metal robots would melt the second they touched him, and even for the hardened hero, he was hard to hold for too long.

"We need some water! Cool the boy off!" Recovery Girl barked to the nearby fire robots. Luckily, the robots were intelligent enough to not blast the poor boy with the full force of a firehose. They aimed it upwards to sprinkle the boy with a shower of water, which flashed off of him instantly, creating a loud hissing sound. His arms, which had been ashen, solidified and began to turn pink again.

Recovery Girl continued to shake her head. These students were going to be the death of her, they were only getting stronger and she was only getting older. If she had any luck left in her she'd pass away before the Quirk Singularity destroyed society as a whole.

* * *

Izuku was very grateful for unconsciousness. For once, he didn't want to be awake. Being awake was kind of a drag when your legs had been shattered like toothpicks in a firecracker, and your arms had been blown off and then reattached with a blowtorch. Absolutely lovely!

There was one problem. If he was unconscious, how was he conscious? That didn't sound right. Was he even conscious? What was this?

He looked around, not that it did him any good. Wherever he was, it was pitch black. It was a weird state of things. He could see his body, but there was no discernable light source. He remembered a video of an astronaut from hundreds of years ago floating in space, but there were no stars.

"_Woah,"_ he thought.

"Woah," he said.

"_That's weird!"_ he thought/said, hearing the voice in his head come out of his mouth. Yeah, he was definitely unconscious/conscious. "_Subconscious, we'll call it. I guess this is my mind?"_ If this was his mind, he thought it was kind of boring. Orderly and neat, but boring.

He went back to the analogy of floating in space and stars flickered into existence.

"Cool!"

Playing with being stuck in his mind was an interesting prospect. There were so many things he could do with a power like this! What uses did this have? He was sure there must be something, like physically replaying a fight.

The stars blurred as he rocketed unwillingly in the direction of one of them. A single star remained stationary, so he presumed that was where he was heading. If he wasn't so fascinated, he'd be concerned. Something massive flew by his head and he flinched as Jupiter receded into the distance.

"So I guess I'm going to Earth?" he questioned. In answer, the cosmos laughed. That was unsettling. "Wait, how do I slow down?"

* * *

Practicing her smile in the pond was one of her favorite pastimes. It let her ignore the other seven people stuck here with her. Peace and quiet, finally! Her eyes trailed over her hair, matching her pitch-black uniform. Sometimes, she wondered if she should dye it white to match her cape. Maybe golden, to match the accents?

It wasn't meant to be. In the reflection, something green and _screaming_ approached all too quickly, slamming into her favorite pond instants later.

"Nope! No thank you! _Toshinori, get your ass over here!"_

Her successor was going to fix the damage _his _successor had caused, or so help her, she was going to put another hole in his abdomen. Idiots love to do dumb things and she hadn't been able to beat the habit out of him when she'd had the chance.

* * *

Seven spirits felt a disturbance in One For All as the ninth member joined them and the seventh member was _not _happy about it.

* * *

Izuku was terrified. Slamming into a planet at high speed was not his idea of a fun dream. Okay, maybe soaring through space was fun, and the impact hadn't hurt him, but this woman might.

"Why the hell did you have to land in this pond specifically?" she screamed at the boy, who scrambled backwards, pond-grass stuck in his hair. Maybe that was just how his hair looked when it was wet, actually.

"I-I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!" he said, doing his best to get away from the scary woman. She was _soaked_, and it was probably his fault. Definitely his fault, now that he thought about it. Seeing his mentor appear, though he was confused as to _how_, he appealed to the man for protection. "Toshinori! She's gonna hurt me!"

The man sighed. Nana had always been one for pranks, but this one wasn't in the best of taste. "Nana, he's just a kid."

She couldn't take it anymore, and let out a cackle. "God, Toshinori, I can't believe you chose such a wet blanket. He's just like you!"

"_Wet blanket? Just like him? Wait, chose?" _Izuku thought to himself, glad he could do so once more. If every thought he had was transmitted to these people, he'd be embarrassed for the rest of his life. Was he even alive?

"Well, welcome to One For All. I don't think you'll be here too long. It took Toshinori ages to develop the consciousness needed to be in here!"

"I'm _in_ One For All?"

"That's what I said. There should be six others, but they spent a lot of time in their own little worlds. It's a pleasant afterlife."

"Afterlife? Am I dead?" Izuku whimpered. Nana, if that was her name, was scary. It seemed Toshinori's teacher hadn't been as kind as the man himself had been.

"No, you're not dead. This is just where your soul is connected to now. From what I understand, the human soul exists. I guess it normally travels to some afterlife, but the first user of One For All had a quirk which allowed him to pass his soul on. As the generations passed, the power grew. You've got the power of eight souls before you."

Izuku had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean. He'd never been religious, but he supposed that would change a bit. Was it even religion if he was experiencing it physically? There was no faith involved. Whatever the case, he had a lot of questions.

His muttering was pretty impressive. The boy could speak faster than anyone Nana had met while she was alive.

"Is this normal?" she asked, looking to Toshinori for advice.

"Yup," he sighed.

* * *

To say Inko Midoriya used tissues was a bit of an understatement. When she arrived at the Yuuei hospital two days ago, they thought she had a water-based quirk, but it was just overactive tear ducts. Nobody blamed her. Getting the message that your only child had been injured was hard enough without the Midoriya's trademarked emotional state. The number of wires hooked up to her son didn't help the situation.

At this rate, the woman would be allowed to take her chair with her when she left. She'd spent two days straight there, too anxious to leave in case her baby woke up while she was gone. Recovery Girl had told her not to worry, they were tracking his sleep and they'd be able to detect when he was waking up. It was only then that she took a restroom break.

When Izuku woke up a few hours later, he realized how much trouble he was in. His mother was a kind woman. It was very difficult to make her mad. That said, she was understandably pissed about him going completely overboard _again_. Recovery Girl saved him from his mother by reminding them he still had to undergo a physical before checking out.

"Well, that's good. It seems you didn't suffer any head trauma this time! Musutafu Children's Hospital sent me your records. "When you fixed your arms, the heat was fairly intense. I was worried you might get a dangerously high fever, but I think your body is capable of handling overheating."

Inko hadn't realized anything was wrong with his arms. They didn't _look_ bad. "What happened to his arms? If it's his quirk, I understand. He's been burning himself for a long time!"

"You may want to take a seat for this one."

The mother's heart crawled into her throat. That was never a good thing to hear. Her baby boy was far from stupid, but that didn't mean he didn't do dumb things. It seemed he took after his father in that regard.

"When we found him, he'd burned both of his arms off. I believe his quirk evolved to the point where he's able to create ash out of his body, and he can manipulate that. From what I've seen, it's not comfortable and requires extremely high heat. That's conjecture, my point is that when he took down that huge robot, he created a huge ash cloud and later pulled most of it back to him to reform his arms."

Izuku really wished she hadn't told his mom about that. She was never going to let him out of her sight again, at this rate. Recovery Girl's guess wasn't too far from the truth; during his "dream" he'd talked to Nana Shimura and come to the understanding that One For All had combined her quirk with his. Disintegration was a powerful quirk, she was able to dissolve herself and reconstitute with ease. It made her a terrifying opponent and was extremely useful for scaring the hell out of a weaker villain. Unfortunately for the boy, they had no idea how he was supposed to control it, and it seemed to injure him more than it should.

Recovery Girl took a moment to let the boy's mother absorb that.

"Well, if he reformed his arms, that's fine, right?" she said hesitantly.

"We're not entirely sure. Due to the extent of the damage, it's possible that he has minor nerve damage. He's been healing for two days and the progress of his nerves has slowed."

It took quite a bit for Inko not to faint. Her son had nerve damage. No, that couldn't be right!

"Can it be fixed?"

"Well, there's always the possibility that he could direct his quirk to recreate the nerves. I spent some time writing up a preliminary report on his quirk which I've sent to your address. I think it should arrive at around the same time as you get home, if you leave soon, which you should; I have a lot of work to do!" Recovery Girl not-so-subtly hinted at her goal.

* * *

**Please read the notes!** **I'll try to keep them short. Would you guys rather I upload faster with unrevised content, and then update later with revisions? Also, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll pump out chapters! Thanks for reading.**


	3. Classes Begin

**To address the Guest review questioning my name change: Cinderelynx is my name on the remainder of my accounts, and I don't do much with Harry Potter anymore, so my old name (Garrick Ollivander) no longer fits. That's it for the fore note! Enjoy.**

* * *

Katsuki was not a fun guy to play games of any sort with. Some time ago, in his only romantic relationship, his girlfriend had tried to play mind games with him.

"It's nothing," she'd say. "I'm fine. Just go hang out with Midoriya."

And he would, and she'd get mad. The second time she did that, he cut the whole thing off. As pretty as his girlfriend was, the connection wasn't worth it. Dating, he decided, was stupid, and anyone who enjoyed romance was also stupid.

Mind games weren't the only scary prospect with Katsuki. Izuku was well aware of this, as he was currently panicking, trying to keep his character from losing.

"Kacchan! Calm down!"

"Shut the fuck up and play the game! I'm not gonna lose to you, ever!"

"But if I play the game, that gives me a chance at winning!"

"Not even fucking close, shithead! I'll beat your ass into the ground!"

"B-but didn't you want me to play the game?"

"It's not winning if your enemy doesn't try! Now stop losing!"

Inko smiled, glad that things had returned to normal. Her sons were back where they were supposed to be, doing things that weren't dangerous. Well, not overtly dangerous. One could never be sure with Kacchan. She wished Mitsuki had taught him some restraint, but her mouth was just as foul as her spawn's. In all fairness, Inko hadn't always been perfect, but then she'd had her son, and Hisashi had moved away… She had to be perfect for Izuku, but heaven knew that boy was a handful.

Izuku himself didn't swear often. He preferred to be as professional as possible. After all, Toshinori had a clean record as far as swearing on live television went! Except for that one time, or the other, or… Well, not a clean record, but he didn't swear as much as Kacchan did. If his idol and mentor didn't swear, then Izuku wouldn't either. There were plenty of words he could use instead of vulgarities. Even so, it was tempting to shout back at Kacchan every once in a while.

"Get fucked!" his friend yelled, crushing the opposing avatar. It was too easy. Everything was too easy, even if it was hard. That was just how Katsuki did things, with immense effort and a completely relaxed attitude!

Nevermind, Izuku would never shout back at Kacchan. The teen scared the hell out of him. There was a very real threat of bodily harm, and yet, he was his best friend. They could talk about anything, everything from dumb things to things like Izuku's new interest in neurology. Several hours later, they were gladly munching on pizza and enjoying the last night before their acceptance letters would get here. Really, there was no doubt they'd been accepted.

"You redecorated, huh?" Kacchan said, lying flat on the floor. The ceiling was covered in fascinating diagrams, each describing parts of the nervous system. "You and your family were practically made for the word _nervous_."

"Y-yeah," Izuku laughed. He'd set them all up after receiving Recovery Girl's report. Even four days after getting home, his hands were a bit numb, and he found it difficult to use them for finer motor controls. For example, when he'd been playing against Kacchan earlier, his controller hadn't felt as responsive as usual. Some people would blame that on the controller, but not Izuku. It was his hands that were the problem.

In any case, he'd been carefully reading over the reports, looking at the scans they'd recovered. His nerves hadn't reconstituted properly. Rebuilding them would be incredibly complex, but even though the information contained in the report was helpful, he would need more data.

"You still haven't told me anything about how badly you hurt yourself," Kacchan grunted. Not that he cared or anything. It was none of his business how much Deku had hurt himself.

"Well, I overdid things with my quirk. It turns out there isn't a limit to how deep it'll burn."

Kacchan sat bolt upright and looked at his friend, who didn't move at all. "Are you saying you burned your fucking hands off?"

"Not just my hands, it went all the way up my elbows."

"I fucking knew it! Holy shit, Deku. You blew your arms off to take down that monster?"

His friend meekly nodded his head.

"That's metal. That's metal as fuck, dude," Kacchan grinned, falling back to the floor. Shit was tight, he knew Deku was capable of more than he let on. That's why he'd stuck around so long. He had faith in his friend, even if he didn't always show it.

* * *

By the time Izuku woke up the next morning, Kacchan had unsurprisingly left. More often than not, when Kacchan spent the night, they'd stay up way too late and he'd decide not to sleep. He'd walk himself home as soon as the sun rose. Izuku actually preferred it this way, since he'd get to eat Kacchan's share of breakfast. It also meant he had the chance to get really deep into topics that nobody else cared about.

At some point last night, he'd passed out in the middle of a sentence and started talking in his sleep. His friend had recorded some of it as blackmail material, much to his horror. He watched the video he'd been sent over breakfast.

"...but the somatic portion has been damaged significantly, and my main concern is reconstructing the ulnar and median nerves to regain control over my hands."

His mother looked at him curiously, a cup of coffee raised.

"I started talking in my sleep, apparently. We didn't sleep until nearly three in the morning! I must have been telling him about how I plan on fixing my nerve damage."

His mom sighed and resigned herself to the absurd amount of technical detail she was about to be assaulted with. She consoled herself with the fact that she had a warm cup of coffee and a cursory knowledge of the subject already, between her son's muttering and her days as a nurse. Decades-old bits of knowledge flew back into her brain as she listening to Izuku talk.

Most of what he was talking about had been pretty preliminary stuff, but she knew he was a smart kid. Something had changed halfway through the storm of words, though, and she found herself bombarded by words she'd never heard before.

Izuku took a moment to breathe and realized how long he'd been talking for. "Sorry, mom!" he apologized, practically seeing the question marks floating around her head. As happy as she was that her son was smart, a lot of the things he was saying raised more questions than answers. She was glad he'd never be a teacher, he reminded her too much of some of her old professors.

After breakfast, he went to the beach for nostalgia's sake. Since he'd started practicing with Toshinori on the Yuuei grounds, he hadn't had time to visit where he'd started his training. Somehow, it was both relaxing and energizing, since it was so peaceful and simultaneously reminded him of his training. For all his training, he had nearly lost all of his limbs in a single overpowered move. Sure, most of the damage had been caused by the full force of One For All, which his body was still unprepared to handle, but his own quirk hasn't been without its downsides.

Logically, he'd have to practice using both, even knowing the harm it could cause. Resolving to work on the one which he could fix, he began to scheme: how would he master using his updated _Phoenix_ quirk? He'd officially refiled it with the Quirk Regulation Agency, but that didn't mean he was used to using it yet.

Izuku looked at his fist. This was probably going to hurt. The sea glittered beyond his fingers as he lifted his pinky, focusing the entirety of his flames onto the tip of it. Immediately, searing pain screamed through his mind, almost unbearable. It was nothing compared to incinerating his arms, but even with his dulled nerves, it put tears in his eyes. The offending digit burned away, leaving a charred stump where his nail should have been, and a tiny cloud of ashes formed in its place.

At least he knew he could do that much. It didn't hurt as much now that most of his nerves were dead, but there was a burning ring around his finger where living flesh made contact with the rock-hard burnt remains. As he sensed the ashes, which he supposed must be alive in some fashion, he pulled them back to him. Again, searing pain hit him and he bit back a scream. The stump at the end of his pinky began to glow green, a verdant form of heat expression. It was fascinating how his flames and the color of his heat were both green. It was probably unimportant.

The ashes swirled back into his finger, painfully creating a facsimile of his pinky. He repeated the process, releasing and controlling the ash until he was comfortable doing it. Comfortable was subjective in this case, it still hurt, but he was used to the pain. Now that he was sure he could reattach his finger, he began to practice with the limitations of his ash.

Ten months had passed since he and Toshinori had first met. They'd sat at that ramada at the end of the jetty, and had breakfast together. To Izuku's minor amusement, he remembered it being cleaner than the surrounding beach, but the general public had not been kind to the picnic tables. Empty foil bags rustled lazily on the lattice tops, though there were several nearby trash cans. At the very least, though, they made excellent targets for practicing with controlling his ash and testing his quirk's strength.

* * *

A buzzing sound whispered cheerfully through the glass sliding door to the balcony as a drone gently lowered a package onto their delivery box. The ornately designed parcel set off alarm bells in Inko's head before she even read who it was from. Even if it had come in a cardboard box, it would have been obvious; the Midoriyas didn't get much mail.

"Izuku! Izuku!" she screamed, setting the package down and shaking with happiness.

Hearing his mother calling, he rushed out of his room. "What's on fire? Did you hurt yourself? Is everything okay?" he said, concerned.

"It's here! Your acceptance letter is here!"

Excitedly, she pointed at the box on their dining table. They sat and pushed the box into the center before Izuku flipped a latch open and it came to life.

"I am here as a projection!" the voice of All Might boomed out.

"How do I turn the volume down?!"

* * *

In an upper-middle-class neighborhood, something similar was happening as the Bakugou family received their news.

"Of fucking course I killed the most robots! They make it sound like there was a competition!"

"How do I turn your volume down?!" Mitsuki shouted, oblivious to her husband putting earplugs in. Masaru was a smart man. He'd been the first to read the results of the practical exam, and he knew Katsuki would be mad.

* * *

"F-first place?!" Izuku stared, paling as he saw the results of the practical exam. He hadn't realized there was more than just villain points! Many people had more than forty rescue points, but he had the most, with sixty. Blowing away that robot had been the right move. Unfortunately, it meant he had out-placed Kacchan. Between his sixty rescue points and fifty-one villain points, he'd scored four points higher than his childhood friend.

Kacchan's seventy-seven villain points alone would have placed him in first if not for Izuku. Thirty rescue points, though, confused him for a moment. He remembered Kacchan telling him about his own fight with the giant robot, where he'd managed to keep it away from buildings for a minute. That must be where they came from.

His phone buzzed itself off the table and dropped to the ground, and Izuku's stomach dropped with it. The screen was lit up and Kacchan was calling. Steeling himself, he declined. The phone began to buzz seconds later, and he declined again. This time, a text popped up on the screen.

"YOU'RE SO FUCKED," it read. That made sense, but surprisingly, Izuku wasn't too worried. It felt good to be at the top for once, even with his now-impending murder. He'd worked hard for this!

* * *

Getting out the door was a difficult task when one's mother was Inko Midoriya. Izuku was more than glad she had already provided him with a poncho and umbrella, the rain outside was far less of a threat than her tears. Soaking his brand-new Yuuei Yuuniform before he'd even arrived at his first-class might send the wrong message to his classmates.

"Mom, I'll be fine! It's not like I'll be gone for that long. The only difference between now and last year is that I'm attending a new school!"

"Sweetie, this is Yuuei we're talking about! It's the most prestigious high school in Japan! Let me have my moment!"

And Inko had her moment, and that was that. With a sigh of relief, Izuku opened the front door, and-

"Wait!"

"Mom, I want to get there early!"

His mother gave him a teary smile and reached out to push his hair back under his rain poncho's hood. "Izuku, you're really cool. I'm so proud of you!"

A knot formed in his throat as he smiled back. He'd been hoping to avoid this, crying on the morning of his greatest achievement would put a bit of a damper on things. "I'm off!" he said shortly, his usual verbosity failing him.

* * *

By the time he reached the school, he'd gotten his emotions back under control. Spending a train ride analyzing the data he'd gotten from destroying his pinky certainly helped with that. Analysis always helped him calm down.

It still remained to be seen how much power he could generate using _Phoenix_. From his tests at the beach over the past month and a half, he'd been able to move wrappers and cans with just the ashes from his littlest finger, but it was at the price of all the feeling in his fingertip for weeks. Numbness still plagued the area, but his studies had helped solve the problem to some extent. He'd managed to repair some of the nerves, but the amount of focus it took to heal them made the process prohibitively time expensive.

Feeling had returned to the rest of his arm just last week. The regenerative factor he remembered from his childhood still worked, but if it was going to take that long every time he used his quirk, he needed to figure out a workaround. At the very least, he wasn't worried about crippling himself for the rest of his life anymore. It was nice to be able to feel the rain on his forearms and to not have that ringing coldness where his arms should be. The worst part about recovery was realizing how warm he naturally was, and how noticeable the lack of warmth was.

Subconsciously, he flexed his fingers, relishing in the feeling of his nails scraping against his palm. He'd developed the habit the day he realized he couldn't feel it, and started doing it every few hours just to see how far he'd recovered. It had become a comforting feeling, a reminder that he was getting better.

Comfort was definitely something he needed today. Any first day was nerve-wracking, whether it was the first day of middle school, battle training, or high school. He needed all the help he could get, especially now that he was actually living out his fantasy of attending this school. He wondered what his classroom would be like.

The steps he'd tripped on before the entrance exam jarred him out of his thoughts. There was nobody close enough to catch him if he tripped this time, no Kacchan to tease him. He wondered if the girl from before had passed the exam as he jogged up the wet stairs, making his way to the entrance as fast as he could to get out of the dreary weather. Under the awning of the building, he took off the now-soaked poncho, and shook it off, rolling it up to place in a plastic bag in his backpack.

He was earlier than he'd expected to be, and there were very few people around. The directions Toshinori had given him were fuzzy in his head, but he vaguely remembered something about the location of the classroom and began to make his way there. Taking the stairs may have been a mistake, he hadn't realized how tall the halls were!

Each hall was nearly twenty feet tall, with floor-to-ceiling windows that only displayed pouring rain. He could barely see the treetops through the fog. From inside the building, Izuku was of the opinion that it was rather pretty to look at but not to be in. On the other side of the hall from the windows were a set of equally floor-to-ceiling doors, each under a label.

"_Class 1-K, 1-J, 1-I,"_ he read, looking down the hall. "_I suppose that means 1-A would be at the end of the hall? I wonder if there's an easier way to get there."_

It took him five boring minutes to walk the length of the hall. He'd been at least grateful that the floor was interesting to look at, made of a light gray slate with ancient ammonite fossils embedded in it. Everything about this place felt higher-quality than he'd expected!

Reaching 1-A, he steadied himself. He had no idea how many people would be this early. Iida would probably be there, since he'd also been accepted, as well as the two recommendation students. Izuku's new acquaintance seemed like he appreciated punctuality, and the recommendations were normally on the more responsible side of the spectrum.

He slid open the door and stepped in, surprised to see only three people had arrived. One seat to the left of the closest to the door sat Iida, stiff as a board and reading something. Nearer the back sat a teen with messy half-white, half-red hair and a large burn scar over his left eye. He seemed to be meditating. Behind him sat a girl with long black hair, her legs stretched out as she read what appeared to be a high-level chemistry textbook. The two unnamed students seemed familiar, but Izuku wasn't sure where he'd seen them before. All three looked up to see the new arrival.

"Ah, Midoriya! I am glad to see you appreciate punctuality as well. My sincerest congratulations on your placement in the practical," Iida said, smiling.

At the back of the class, the girl's expression brightened. "I believe I remember you! You nearly tripped before the entrance exam."

Izuku blushed. "Oh, t-that was you who caught me? S-sorry about the way my f-friend acted, h-he's kind of… prickly."

She waved him off. "Think nothing of it! I'm glad to help."

Izuku looked at the desks and saw names assigned on them. Finding his own, he smiled nervously back at the girl.

"Looks like my seat is next to yours!" he said, slinging his backpack off his shoulder and sliding into the chair. He extended a hand, "My name is Izuku Midoriya!"

"Momo Yaoyorozu! I'm glad you showed up so early," she said, pouting at the boy in front of her and lowering her voice. "The other two aren't very talkative."

It was hard to think through the internal screaming. He was _talking_ to a _girl_. That just didn't happen to Izuku Midoriya. Meeting his number one hero? That worked for him. Getting destroyed in games by Kacchan? Completely standard. But talking to a girl was so far out of his comfort zone that he didn't even know where to begin. She was really pretty, too, and he did his best not to stare.

She seemed to sense his discomfort, maybe by the fact that he was shaking. "What is that book about?"

"O-oh, this? It's actually my notes on neurology. You see, my quirk went through a bit of a late evolution," he rubbed his hand with the back of his neck, embarrassed. "My body hasn't quite caught up, and when I used it last time, it damaged my nerves. I'm working on learning how the nervous system works, so I can fix it!"

Her eyes widened as she looked at the book. It was easily four hundred pages, and as thick as her arm. Midoriya had written all of that? She looked at the book in her arms and turned closer to the teen.

"That sounds a bit like how my quirk works! My quirk, _Creation_, uses the lipids in my body to make anything I want them to. I have to actually know their chemical makeup, though," she said, gesturing at the book.

The title caught his eye. _Advanced Chemistry in Creation, 14th Edition_ it said, listing several people with rather impressive sounding qualifications as authors. Near the end of the list, it had an honorable mention for...

"Doctor Yayo- Yaoyoro-"

She giggled at his inability to pronounce her name. "Just call me Yaomomo. That's what my friends call me!"

"Are you sure?" his entire face turned red. He didn't really do nicknames with anyone but Kacchan! "I don't want to be presumptuous!"

"I don't mind at all!"

Izuku smiled, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach. "Then you can call me Izuku, or Izu, or… I don't really have a nickname, really!"

Momo laughed. He was too cute. Really, it was nothing special. "I think I'd like that. Thank you for the honor, Izuku!"

They continued to talk about their respective subjects for several minutes. Momo, as it turned out, had an honorary doctorate in chemistry. His mom thought he was smart, but he definitely didn't have a doctorate! That said, Momo would probably agree with her. Neurology wasn't an easy subject, and she was glad to have someone to nerd out with. Even at her old private school, people had been less than enthusiastic about high-level subjects.

Students trickled in over the next several minutes. A hawk-headed boy sat in the seat in front of Izuku and introduced himself.

"My name is Fumikage Tokoyami," he said, nodding his head to the students. "I sincerely apologize if my appearance causes any fright."

They assured him it didn't, to his slight disappointment. Tokoyami wouldn't admit it, but he was almost proud of being intimidating. It was favorable to the alternative.

Soon after, a short boy with purple balls where his hair should have been walked in. The way he eyed Momo made Izuku distinctly uncomfortable; he'd seen this sort before. There had been more than a few at his junior high.

He didn't take his eyes off her at all as he walked past them and hopped into the seat next to Izuku, eyeing the boy. "Hey! You!"

In his head, he groaned. He didn't feel like talking to this guy. Now, he almost wished Kacchan would hurry up and get here. As sure as he was that Kacchan was going to stir things up, he would much prefer a bit of chaos to a pervert in the seat next to him.

"Good to meet you! My name is Izuku Midoriya," he forced a smile onto his face. The boy looked back with confusion.

"What? Oh. My name is Minoru Mineta. I just wanted to ask if you'd switch with me!" he said, smiling greedily. He looked past Izuku and definitely did not make eye contact with Momo.

"Uh… N-no, I don't really want to, sorry!"

"What? Why not?" the boy whined.

"B-because Yaomomo know each other, that's why I sat next to her!" he said, slipping a white lie into his words. He didn't really know Momo that well.

The boy buffed and turned away, reaching into his backpack. For a moment, Izuku was glad to see that the boy had pulled out a magazine about science, but then he looked closer. The diminutive boy had simply put a cover over the real magazine he was reading, and whatever was in that was definitely not appropriate for public viewing.

"Thank you, Izuku. How noble of you," Momo whispered to him, careful to avoid letting the perv hear her.

Izuku looked back at her. "It's nothing. I saw how he was looking at you, and it grossed me out. You don't want to know what he's reading, either."

They returned to their conversation, speaking quietly until more students had arrived to fill the class with noise. A group of particularly loud students entered at the same time: a blonde student with a black streak in his hair, a well-muscled boy with dyed red hair, and a very loud girl whose entire body was pink. The hairs on the back of Izuku's neck stood up as he felt Mineta's presence behind him.

"_Is telling Kacchan about the pervert taking things too far?"_ he thought to himself, considering his options. He normally didn't like to cause trouble. In fact, he avoided it at all costs. Despite that, he couldn't just let the boy get away with it. Someone had to teach him a lesson or he'd… Well, Izuku didn't want to think about how the boy might turn out. He looked at Momo out of the corner of his eye. They'd taken a break from their conversation to check their phones for a moment. No, he couldn't just let Mineta continue his ways. It wouldn't be right to ignore this when his new friend's modesty was at stake.

Right as he began to type a warning to Kacchan, the door slid open, and the explosive teen walked in. His hair was soaked. Subsequently, he appeared to be in a foul mood. Anyone who had ever known him would be out of his way by this point, noting the lack of his trademark smirk.

He spotted Izuku almost immediately, and began making his way towards them. When he got there, he kicked Mineta's bag out of the way and dropped his stuff.

"Move, runt."

By some miracle, Kacchan hadn't seen what the boy was reading. If he had, there would be a murder on their hands, and an expelled student before the class even officially started.

"Excuse me? Who are you?" Mineta said rudely, snapping his reading material shut. Clearly, he had no fear of death.

"Katsuki Bakugou. Seventy-seven villain points, and if you don't move your fucking ass I'll have seventy-eight."

"What's with all these people introducing themselves to me? Broccoli over here did the same thing earlier! He refused to move, so I'm not-"

Katsuki had heard enough. No little shit was getting in his way today. Not after the morning he'd had. Not after being splashed by some idiot driver. No, Katsuki was not in a patient mood. Detonating the front of his hand, he sent a powerful backhanded slap into the boy's face, grabbing him by the front of the shirt and putting him down in the seat next to him. "'Broccoli' over here is my best friend and had the highest score in the exam. I don't care who you disrespect so long as you stay the fuck out of our way."

The class erupted in noise. Mineta sobbed in a mixture of fear and anger, Iida insisted that the action was out of line, and Izuku was stuttering to his new friends an apology for Kacchan.

"You go too far! You have disrespected the classroom our seniors used, remove your feet from the desk and show at least a little decorum!"

"And who the fuck are you, extra? Give me a break."

"I am from Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Iida!"  
Katsuki filed that away in his head for future reference. He might be an extra, but he was probably at least a little competent. That didn't change a damn thing.

"So you're an elite extra. Fuck off, please."

"Kac- Katsuki, calm down!" Izuku implored his friend. He'd nearly slipped and used his nickname, but they'd made an agreement to avoid those at school. After all, this was Yuuei, not some two-bit junior high in the most boring city on Earth.

The enraged boy huffed and flipped his head back, leaning in his chair. He removed his feet from the desk and Iida walked back to his seat, confused at the blonde's behavior. Bakugou was loud and brash, and yet he seemed to think highly of the quiet, respectful Midoriya.

The twentieth student finally made her way into the room, flustered by the commotion and her tardiness. Her seat was right by the door, so she didn't have to cut past anyone in order to reach her seat. Izuku recognized her instantly as the girl he'd saved from the giant robot, but he didn't recall her name. That was an interesting thought, how there would be so many people he helped that he couldn't remember all of their names.

The front row of the class went quiet, with the second row following suit shortly after. Izuku, Momo, and Katsuki noticed the absence of some voices quickly, with most of the students realizing it becoming quiet in just a handful of seconds. The reason for this quickly made himself known and stood up.

"There's a Sleeping Bag Hero?" the pink girl asked as they observed the man.

A thin hand shoved its way out of the bag, reaching to the zipper on the front of it and pulling it down. Thick shadows stretched under his eyes, his hair was an uncombed mess, and his entire uniform was drab, consisting of a black sweatshirt and sweatpants.

"Good, you know when to shut up. That's a handier skill than you might believe. Welcome to the Yuuei Hero Course. My name is Aizawa Shouta, nice to meet you, all of that. This may seem harsh, but find your physical activity uniform and maybe a rain poncho," the man said, monotone and exhausted. It didn't seem realistic, in order to teach at this school, you had to be a Pro Hero. Their teacher definitely didn't fit that stereotype.

* * *

As they exited onto the sodden grounds, the class generally agreed on one thing: this was not how they expected their first day to go. There were few mixed opinions on whether or not this was a good change of pace, with the majority thinking this was wet and miserable. Katsuki was fine with this, though, since it meant he got a warm change of clothes and what he assumed was going to be a chance to show off.

They followed the hero as he spoke. "If any of you would like a comparison for what we're about to do, think about your physical tests in junior high. Softball throwing, standing long jump, fifty-meter dash… You would have done those things back then, so I expect you to know what I'm talking about here. You'll be doing the same things today, but this time, don't hold back with your quirk. Use it as much as you want to get the highest score you can."

They hung on to his words, hoping to get this done as fast as possible. Getting out of this rain was their number one priority, scores be damned.

"If you have any illusions about half-assing this so you can get out of the rain faster, drop them now. This isn't your small-town junior high. I'll expel the lowest average scoring student if that's what it takes to pull out an actual attempt."

Some students gasped at the threat; they were barely fifteen minutes into the first day, and they were already being issued ultimatums? Their teacher was right, this was _far_ from what they'd experienced in their junior high schools. The few elites they had in their class were even more shaken by this revelation since their schools were much more forgiving.

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh, Mister Aizawa?" the girl Izuku had saved asked. He really needed to learn all of his classmates' names.

"Harsh, but necessary. I'm trying to make up for your waste of time called junior high. Our government still hasn't come up with a competent test for your abilities, and if I'm going to have a good baseline for your strengths, we'll have to get this done today," he said, arriving at the fields. White grass lined the trimmed area, marking out the borders as well as a few test measurements. A throwing circle with lines extending out to estimate distance would be their first test, it seemed. "Midoriya! Bakugou! Since you two were the highest scores in the practical by a wide margin, I would like you to give demonstrations on using your quirk effectively."

They walked forward, Katsuki pushing past his friend to stand in the circle first. He would throw, and then Izuku would. Aizawa tossed them a super-durable softball each, held up a bright screen so they could see the distance, and walked away.

"Well? What are you waiting for? I'm not going to hold your hand through the process. Throw the ball," he said. He was of the opinion that if you didn't make students do everything on their own, they'd grow dependent on you, and your class time naps would become a thing of the past.

The explosive teen shook his arms for a moment and detonated a few tiny explosions to warm up. These were suboptimal conditions for his quirk, and without proper heating, he wouldn't produce the sweat he needed to send the ball as far as he was able to. With a roar, he spun on his heel and launched the ball.

"Six hundred and fifty meters?" the class muttered.

"Dammit! I know I can throw farther than that! I'm gonna blow these clouds up!" Katsuki screamed, flipping off the sky.

Izuku shivered a bit. Not only was it freezing out here, but he was also performing in front of his whole class right after a show-stopping performance from Katsuki. He liked exactly none of this, but he didn't really have a chance. He stole an idea from Katsuki. Flaring up his quirk in tiny intervals, he warmed his body and stretched, preparing One For All and _Phoenix_ at the same time. He was sure he could reach at least a quarter of what Katsuki had thrown without going overboard. Reaching back and preparing his posture, he charged One For All and threw with everything he had, adding a spin onto the end of it.

"Forty-seven meters," the board read. Huh?

"I erased your quirk. What part of 'don't half-ass it' do you not understand? I saw your power in the entrance exam. Give me that, or go warm yourself up in the principal's office."

"E-erased my quirk? Are you Eraserhead, the underground erasure hero?"

"Yes. Get on with it."

Overboard it would be, Izuku decided. He wasn't going to blow his arm off like last time, but he knew he could charge a hell of a lot of force in just one finger… He reached back and mimed throwing the ball in such a way it rolled off his pinky. It would be awkward, but he couldn't afford to use anything else. He gave it a few practice swings before pulling back and throwing the ball, charging One For All in just his right pinky. Right as it left the tip he hit with the entire force of both quirks, his pinky detonating and blasting forward to propel the ball.

"Seven hundred and six meters."

Jaws dropped as they read, then re-read the screen. They definitely hadn't been expecting the boy to pack more power than the guy who could create explosions out of his arms. Nobody had expected it less than the teen himself, though, because Katsuki was speechless. When had Izuku gotten so strong? Since when could he do _that_? In his head, he'd known that Izuku had taken down that robot, but seeing that power in person was completely different.

Izuku realized now that it was stupid of him to try that out here in the rain. He had no idea how his ashes would interact! Fortunately for him, the ashes had clumped together. It was difficult to control them with the added weight of water, but not impossible, though he could certainly feel an added strain. They sizzled as they welded themselves back to his skin, vapor pouring out. It wasn't a pleasing feeling, but it sparked a thought in his head: could he mitigate the aftereffects of his quirk? After all, the ashes had to be drawing material from somewhere. Water and nutrients would come from his body.

The two returned to the class, Katsuki muttering too quietly to be heard over the rain.

"What was that, Katsuki?"  
"I said, you won't fucking beat me next time! The rain is just making me cold. I could kill your ass in a fair contest!"

The class recoiled away from the foul-mouthed boy, and Aizawa grunted. "Alright, let's move on!"

In the following tests, Aizawa didn't question Izuku's performance. It was a little off-putting to the boy that his teacher had only cared during the first test, but it made sense that he only needed one example of his full power. Even with his finger still forming, he managed to pass with flying colors in the next several tests, though he got beat out by Katsuki increasingly as the boy grew sweatier. Much to Izuku's relief, he hadn't topped the charts in any of the tests, or he would really hear it from Katsuki.

Momo's performance was alright, but unexpectedly, Tokoyami's performance was excellent. His sentient quirk, _Dark Shadow_, seemed to revel in the dreariness. He swelled and began yelling, matching Bakugou's attitude (though not quite his swearing). With Dark Shadow's assistance, Tokoyami threw two hundred meters, the fourth-longest after Midoriya, Bakugou, and Uraraka, who threw a ball that never came down. It took more than an hour to finish all the tests, and when they were complete, their least favorite classmate had the lowest average score.

"What about the threat of expulsion?" Momo asked. Her enthusiasm was hard to miss, much to the amusement of the rest of them.

"That was a logical ruse. Actually, that's a lie. I would have expelled him if he hadn't shown at least a little potential," their teacher said, grinning. Indeed, his whole class had done fairly well. There was precedent for his actions. A few years prior, he had expelled a whole freshman class for being worthless.

"Our trust has been infringed upon once more! Yuuei is consistently surprising. I never worried about anything like this at Somei!" Iida said, joining Izuku on their way back to the building.

Izuku was glad he'd met Iida. It seemed he had a good group of acquaintances to get closer with this school year, with Katsuki, Yaomomo, and Iida surrounding him on their walk back to livable conditions.

"If you think about it, Iida, it makes sense. They're not very idealistic here. It helps us prepare for the real world, in a way!"

"Thank you for your insight! I had not thought of it like that. You surprise me often, Midoriya."

"He's just a bucket full of surprises, isn't he? Like that throw?" Katsuki said. His grin was slightly feral, asking a question without words. He wouldn't forget to beat the truth out of Izuku this time.

"Oh, y-yeah. M-maybe we can talk about that later?"

* * *

Back in their class and dryer clothes, they were given the remainder of the day for lunch and socializing with their classmates. As much as Katsuki wanted to harass his friend about his sudden spike in power, he would have to wait until he could isolate him. Izuku clearly wasn't comfortable talking about it in public.

From Izuku's perspective, things were bleak. There was no way he'd be able to keep Toshinori's power a secret from his best friend. If he wasn't able to keep it a secret, his mentor would somehow strip him of One For All and find a new successor, and he'd lose his chance to be a hero! That wasn't a meaningful line of thinking, though, and he knew it. It was difficult not to think like that, but he worried anyway. He was his mother's son, after all, and Inko Midoriya's claim to fame was unnecessary worrying.

Lunch was a quick affair, but it was cool to find out they had a hero staffing that, too. The food here was delicious, tasting as good as the good taste in design the building had. More than lunch, though, Izuku enjoyed getting to know his classmates. It had been a long time since he'd met new people and had a chance to make new friends, and he definitely needed them.

Katsuki didn't care for people like Izuku did, and it showed. While Izuku socialized, Katsuki was glad to sit back and listen for names he should know. They might be extras, but knowing their names would be useful someday, somehow. This was how he enjoyed himself in loud environments, by being alone.

"What's up, dude? That throw was super manly!" the dyed-red haired boy walked up to Katsuki. "I'm Kirishima, Eijiro Kirishima!"

"Get fucked, Eijiro Kirishima. I'm not here to make friends."

"Okay, okay. I see your type. Being the tough guy is manly and everything, but you don't have to be a prick about it."

"What do you mean by 'a prick'?!" Katsuki yelled. He wasn't a prick! Sure, he was kind of rude sometimes, and maybe he wasn't as personable as Izuku, but he was definitely not a prick.

"A prick? An asshole? A jerk, not-nice dude, generally negative guy?"

"Are you trying to start a fight?" Katsuki growled and his hands began to sweat. "I don't lose fights, shitlord."

"I'm not asking for a fight. I'm figuring you out. Riling people up is a good way to get to know them, right?"

He had to admit, the redhead had a point. "Fair enough. What is it you want from me?"

"An introduction, I guess? Everyone else is introducing themselves. That's kind of the point of today, isn't it?"

"Alright, Shitlord. I'm Katsuki Bakugou. Until recently, I was the undisputed number one of everything, but Izuku decided to grow a spine, and now I've got someone I can actually work on beating. There's nothing less fun than a competition with no challenge, right?"

"Shitlord? Is that gonna be my new nickname?" Kirishima grinned, accepting the mantle of Shitlord. He'd cracked Bakugou's hard outer shell already?

"Oi, Shitlord! Introduce me!" the bouncy pink girl slid over a desk and landed in Kirishima's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"This is Mina Ashido, the Alien Queen, creator of acid… and also my best friend!" Kirishima laughed as Mina tickled his neck playfully.

"I sent him over here as a sacrifice. I figured if you were gonna blow anyone up, he'd be the one to do that to!"

Katsuki laughed at that. These guys weren't too bad. At worst, Kirishima might make a good punching bag.

Meanwhile, Izuku was regaling a small audience with details of his quirk. The newly named Uraraka joined them, hoping to learn more about the boy who'd saved her life. Apparently, he was super smart on top of being super strong! He kept dropping words that neither her nor Tokoyami could figure out, and Tokoyami was no birdbrain. Yaomomo seemed to be the only one who understood them, and got excited every time she had the chance to explain a word to her classmates.

Uraraka's heart twinged a little. Since he'd saved her life, she had developed a bit of a crush on him. Really, that wasn't so hard to understand. She had a bit of a problem, though: Yaomomo and Midoriya had good chemistry. Seeing them together was adorable! It might be the first day, but she was already seeing a few possible couples in the class. That Shoji guy with the extra limbs seemed to enjoy talking to the invisible girl, Hagakure, while the electric Kaminari seemed to have a massive crush on the rock-music-themed Jiro.

Momo was everything Uraraka wasn't, and that hurt a little. She was beautiful and mature, and she had a massive intellect to match. Hell, she had a doctorate in chemistry! With the way Midoriya seemed to be serious about studying, she thought the two of them would make a great couple. She supposed it was better for this crush to die now sooner rather than later.

They exchanged numbers in each others' phones, and Momo was creating a master list of everyone in the class. It was a good idea on her behalf and would make things easier if they wanted to set up a class chat or anything along those lines.

* * *

Izuku texted Toshinori the instant he was out of Katsuki's line of sight. If he was going to survive the next few days, he needed the boy off his back, and doing that would require a plan. His mentor was the only resource he really had for talking about One For All.

"_Kacchan wants to know where my strength came from, what am I supposed to do?"_ Izuku sent.

"_If you want to, you can tell him,"_ the first message responded, much to his surprise. Izuku had been under the impression that One For All was a secret to be kept under wraps eternally.

"_It's not just my secret anymore, it's yours. I trust you to know who to trust."_

That settled things. He would tell Kacchan tomorrow, then. In the meantime, he sent a short message to his friend, telling him to get to school as early as he could in the morning.

* * *

**Okay! Done with that. 7722 words, and I wrote it all today. I was intoxicated for the second half but I wanted this out tonight, so please review and tell sober me how to improve! I'll probably update this with revisions some day.**


	4. First Trials

**Sorry this is so late! Life gets busy when you're preparing for life. Of course, then 2020 **_**really**_ **began, and I got stuck inside, and finally writing came back to me.**

* * *

Izuku tapped his foot against the floor of his mother's living room as he waited for All Might to arrive. This could go wrong in several ways, but he wasn't damned yet. It all depended on how his mother and Kacchan would react to the truth of his newfound strength. For the former, he wasn't too worried. After all, his mom couldn't stay angry with the only family she had, right? On the other hand, she could pluck out Toshinori's eyes with her quirk. Nevermind. Maybe he was a little worried about his mother's reaction.

The latter, though, was a completely different story. Kacchan was liable to send him down a hall, or punch his head off his shoulders, or accuse him of cheating. No, Izuku didn't expect his friend to take this well at all. The explosive teen didn't take kindly to competition, especially _cheating_ competition.

"I'm sure I'll understand soon, but are there any hints you can give me about why you're so nervous?" his mother asked, wringing her hands. They both had their ways of dealing with nerves.

"I don't think there are any hints that would make this any easier," he responded, glancing down at his phone. Toshinori had said he would be there before sunset, but he had yet to make an appearance.

A knock on the door made them both jump.

"I'll get it!" they both yelled. They looked at each other and laughed shakily as Izuku stood to get the door. As he reached for the doorknob, the phone in his pocket buzzed, notifying him of a text message.

"_I'm sorry, but I'll be a few more minutes. I got stuck in traffic."_

Every muscle in Izuku's body froze, and he re-read the message. Toshinori was running late, and they weren't expecting any other company. With his luck, there could only be one other person at the door.

"Hey, asshole! Open up!"

Izuku cringed away from the door. This wasn't happening, not now. Kacchan was _here_, and he hadn't come up with a way to explain it to his friend without getting destroyed. The plan had been to just tell him about it tomorrow morning, and think of a suitable excuse overnight. The door opened, and Kacchan stepped through, not expecting to come face-to-face with someone.

"What the fuck are you doing, Deku? Were you just gonna stand there?"

"I, uh, I was going to, I mean, uh… Sorry?" he stammered, his mind racing.

Katsuki shoved past him and took his spot on the couch, greeting Inko with a curt nod. "What's all this bullshit about getting to school early tomorrow? Just tell me now!"

"Well, I don't- I mean, I can't really- I haven't figured out a way to say this that doesn't involve getting blown up!" Izuku stuttered, finally finding the words to explain his situation.

"Fuck's that supposed to mean? If it's that bad, I'll blow you up for not telling me. Either way, you're fucked. Get it over with," Katsuki ranted. "Also, close the goddamn door."

As Izuku closed the door, he heard someone familiar say, "Wait!" He paled, and slipped out the door, closing it behind him. Kacchan yelled obscenities on the other side of it, but he could handle that in a second. This was a much more pressing matter.

"Hi, Toshinori! We have a problem!" Izuku smiled in a less-than-reassuring way.

Toshinori's mouth had been open to greet his student, but he'd been cut off before he could begin. His mouth hung open for a second before he closed it and thought for a moment. A problem? Based on the words he could hear being spoken on the other side of the door, he had a feeling he knew what the problem was.

"Ah, young Bakugou is already here! I thought we were just telling your mother?"

"W-well, that's the problem. You haven't met Bakugou yet, have you?"

"I fail to see the problem with that! We can kill two birds with one stone tonight."

"I haven't told him who my tutor is."

Toshinori put a hand to his chin as he considered this. Sure, he'd heard of Bakugou's competitiveness, but he wanted to be a hero. If Bakugou was going to be a hero, he probably had a heroic attitude! What was there to fear?

On the other side of the door, Izuku heard his friend get closer to the door. "J-just wait one second, Katsuki!"

The door blasted open. "I said, who the fuck are you- Oh," Katsuki sized up the man before him. Mystifying hair? Check. Ungodly Greek god physique? Check. General cluelessness about the people around him in the face of his own awesomeness? Double-check. Yup, he was looking at All Might, the top hero in Japan and his personal idol. This was the man he was going to beat one day, and he couldn't wait.

"Good to meet you, young man!" Toshinori smiled. While he could do with a touch less profanity, the boy didn't seem too bad!

"What are you doing, hanging out around here? Is there a villain in the area?"

Izuku and Toshinori exchanged a glance. He hadn't caught on yet.

"Why don't we get out of the hallway? M-my neighbors might get curious!" Izuku all but yelled, ushering them into his apartment.

When Toshinori was past the door, Katsuki shot Izuku a confused look and mouthed, "_What the fuck?"_ It wasn't every day you were pushed into your friend's apartment alongside All Might. None of this seemed to add up, at least, not in any way Katsuki could believe. All Might was here, in Izuku's apartment, standing in the entryway. If he was here for a villain, he wouldn't have time to stop and chat, and certainly wouldn't have come into a fan's home. It was more than a little concerning that Izuku would invite him in like that. They pushed past the gargantuan man, and Katsuki returned to the couch.

"Alright! We're only gonna do this once, so I'll just spit it out! Katsuki, Mom, meet the man who's been tutoring me!"

* * *

As much as he hated waking up in the mornings, he was glad to be alive. The sun rose through the parting clouds and stung his eyes on his way to his classroom. It was a beautiful though still slightly soggy morning, especially considering how well his family had taken the news. His mother had (expectedly) cried, and Katsuki had yelled, but that was about it. His worries about Kacchan thinking it was cheating were unfounded.

"_How else were you supposed to catch up to me?"_ the boy said. "_I'd rather you than anyone else, honestly. Better than someone like that grape fuckwit, or the Somei kid."_

It was a weight off his shoulders. He wouldn't have to tiptoe around how much stronger he'd gotten, nor would he have to make excuses for knowing Toshinori. That last part wasn't entirely true. At some point, his classmates would surely notice. When the time came, he'd just omit the part being his successor and focus more on the mentoring aspect of their relationship.

Ahead of him, by the door to 1-A, was an unfortunately familiar boy. Mineta had somehow made it to class before him! Perhaps there was an elevator or stairs further down the hall? Izuku quickened his pace towards the door, catching it right as it slid shut.

"Hi!" the boy said, sliding into Izuku's seat. "I didn't catch your name yesterday!"

"My name is Yaoyorozu. Are you aware of who that seat belongs to?" the girl responded, sitting straighter in her chair. Her fingers twitched lightly on the cover of the textbook she was reading, splaying out for a better grip.

"Not anymore, it doesn't! I got here before him!"

"Actually, I don't think we're allowed to trade seats," Izuku chimed in, finally walking through the door.

"Midoriya and Yaoyorozu would be right, in this case. Find your own seat, Mineta," Iida commented, having heard the minor argument. He looked up from his journal. "Actually, I'm beginning to write a list of rules Aizawa has implied. Beyond what's official at Yuuei, I believe there are many-"

"Who cares! I want to sit next to her, not some invisible chick! Come on!" Mineta whined, before making the mistake of trying to get the support of the only other student present.

The student in question was the second scariest person in the class, after Katsuki. His attitude hadn't shifted an inch since they'd first met him. Shoto Todoroki wasn't here to make friends, and everyone knew it. It was bad enough to know that his dad was the number two hero, Endeavor.

"Hey, Todoroki! You've gotta help me out here!" the diminutive boy said, leaning forward to poke him on the shoulder. Todoroki froze, almost literally. Vapor trailed off his right side and the room dropped several degrees.

"Until now, I didn't care where you sat," he said, turning around. His half-white, half-red hair parted, revealing the most intense glare Mineta had ever been on the receiving end of. "Don't touch me, and definitely don't sit behind me."

Mineta groaned. That invisible girl was no fun to look at! If he was in charge of things, he'd make the uniforms twice as tight. He wasn't, though, and what he was was outnumbered. Begrudgingly, he got up and brought his backpack two seats over.

"Thank you!" Izuku and Momo said to the still-cold boy at nearly the same time.

"Forget it."

Despite the cold response, the two friends smiled. They'd only known each other for a few days but they were beginning to pick up little things like that. It wasn't the first time they'd said the same thing. During lunch yesterday, they'd been talking about the overlapping parts of neurology and chemistry and had come to the same conclusion at the same time. Mina had perked up upon hearing this. She thought it was adorable, and it made a good break from the highly technical words they'd been using.

Today's lunch topic, though, was something their whole class could understand. After all, their next class was Basic Hero Training, and they'd be taught by All Might himself! It was basically just another day for Midoriya, but for everyone else, it would be their first encounter with the number one hero.

* * *

Clad in fledgling hero costumes, Class 1-A gathered at Ground Beta.

It took quite a bit of mental effort for Izuku not to think of All Might as Toshinori, a habit drilled into him by nearly a year of closeness with the man. The unfamiliarity of the Silver Age costume his mentor wore helped a little.

"All of you look great! I'm glad to see your costumes. From this moment onwards, you're heroes!" All Might boomed.

The costumes certainly made them feel more legitimate. Heroes often stood out for the way they looked or dressed, which would explain why almost none of them had heard of the boring Eraserhead. Flashy costumes, like the one All Might was wearing, tended to draw a lot more attention.

Izuku didn't plan on drawing attention to himself just yet. His outfit was relatively simple: a dark green, short-sleeved bulletproof jacket left his arms free to burn while protecting his torso, and a pair of similarly-colored pants allowed him to move freely. The most interesting part of his outfit was the cream-colored hood, providing a degree of protection for his head and neck. Everything fit snugly to keep him prepared for close combat. Unseen was the ventilator that sat just below his jawline, ready to be equipped the moment it became necessary. Smoke inhalation was a threat to him, even with a fire-based quirk.

Most of his classmates had gone with much flashier costumes. Katsuki had a pair of sweat-collecting gauntlets in the shape of grenades, giving him better punching power and access to much stronger blasts. Iida had a full suit of what looked like a futuristic knight's armor. Momo, though, had a much more practical outfit. Her form-fitting suit had a hole tracing her ribcage down to just below her navel, leaving a large enough area to create small items, while a zipper allowed her to open it in case she needed access to anything larger than a small cannon. Her leggings had small windows on the front, leaving room for a small knife or other objects. The whole ensemble was a deep red, with plenty of exposed skin to use her quirk through while still protecting her from the elements.

"Izuku!" Momo called to her friend, pulling his attention to her.

"Wow! I love your costume! It's super practical!" Izuku smiled.

"Yours looks great too! If we end up on a team, I think our costumes would look good together!"

It was difficult to look directly at her. She looked way better in her outfit than he did in just about anything. At any rate, Izuku wasn't used to anyone but Katsuki being interested in talking to him.

After All Might gave a quick lecture on the importance of indoor fighting, they drew lots to determine the teams, and whether or not they'd be heroes or villains in the faux battle scenario.

Asui, the student whose quirk made her look like and have the abilities of a frog, questioned the exercise. "Shouldn't we have some sort of basic training before we hop into actual fights?"

"This _is_ basic training! It's practical experience. The best way to learn something is to do badly, then learn from your mistakes!"

He explained the scenario, a nuclear weapon hidden in the villain base, and the drawing of lots began. The randomness of the teams would help prepare them for the real world, where they would often have to team up with heroes they'd never met before.

"We did end up together! I can't wait to see which villain team we get to face!" Momo cheered, bouncing on her heels. Her excitement was infectious, and soon Izuku couldn't help but laugh a little. This was just about the ideal pairing, in his mind.

"The first teams to fight will be… Team A and Team D!"

His stomach dropped as he realized he didn't know who Team D was. He'd been too busy talking to Momo! From the way Katsuki was looking at him, though, he had a feeling he knew at least one of the members of Team D. His friend put a hand on his shoulder in an extremely threatening friendly manner.

"Izuku! Looks like you finally get to fight me. Don't make things too easy!"

Nervously, Izuku laughed. "Y-yeah, of course! I'd never go easy on you. Because that would be dumb, right?"

Katsuki's fake smile dropped and he glared at Mineta, who seemed to be torn between ogling the girls in their costumes and running to All Might. The boy looked none-too-happy to be paired with Katsuki. There was no question as to who he'd rather be with, if the looks he was stealing at Momo were any clue.

"Hey, I have an idea! Since you and Midoriya are such good friends, why don't we switch?" the boy looked hopefully at Katsuki. It took some nerve to say something like that.

"Don't be an idiot. We're not allowed to change teams."

"All Might, sir! Are we allowed to trade team members?"

"Of course not, young Mineta! That would defeat the point of the randomized team decisions. Everyone except Teams A and D, head to the monitoring room!" All Might said, waving his hands to direct the class. "Bakugou, Mineta! You two head into the building and hide your weapon. Yaoyorozu, Iz- Midoriya! I would suggest you take this time to strategize. Come up with useful ways to use your quirks together!"

Katsuki grabbed his teammate by the shoulder and dragged him into the building, muttering plans under his breath. To the other boy's credit, he didn't scream, but it seemed like a close thing.

Izuku turned to Momo at the same time as she turned towards him. They both hesitated for a moment, waiting for the other to start planning, but neither did. They blushed and looked away for a moment.

"Right! Any plans?" Izuku all but shouted, turning about the same color as Momo's outfit. He hadn't realized she was so _close._

"I think so? I don't know much about Bakugou, but he seems easy to anger. It also looks like he's eager to fight you. If we draw him away from the objective, you can keep him distracted while I make a capture net and we immobilize him. Mineta shouldn't be a problem by himself, I can probably negate his quirk with a sort of powder or fabric covering the sticky parts."

"That sounds like a good plan! Katsuki definitely wants me to fight him. The easiest way to keep damage to a minimum would be to capture him early on. We'll have to be adaptive, though. Pro heroes say that few plans survive first contact!"

Their time wasn't as long as they'd expected, and all too soon, they were taking their first steps into the building. Seven stories stood over them, too many to search every room for the weapon. Quietly, they made their way down the entrance hall. They found the stairs not too long after entering the building and decided not to search the first floor. It wouldn't make sense to put the objective so close to the entrance, so it wasn't worth wasting time on.

In Izuku's opinion, putting the weapon on the first floor would be a good idea for exactly that reason. Nobody would expect it. If he was the villain, he'd hide the weapon in plain sight and distract them elsewhere, a feint designed to throw the heroes off as much as possible. Katsuki and Mineta probably wouldn't think like that, though. Katsuki wasn't the kind for stealth, and Mineta didn't do the whole subtlety thing.

The second and third floors were empty, and as they went on, it became increasingly clear that the villains had gone straight for the top. Four minutes had passed, and they had seen nothing amiss. By this point, he would have expected Katsuki to track them down and blow something up.

By his side, Momo tensed. "Did you hear that?"

He hadn't. He'd been so tied up in his thoughts that he'd stopped paying attention.

"A-actually, I think I zoned out for a moment. I keep thinking that Katsuki should have done something by now," Izuku said, looking around. "Stealth isn't really his thing."

"It's unsettling," Momo said, slowly scanning the rooms around them. Potted plants and spartan furniture left a couple of places for hiding, but the explosive teen was nowhere to be seen. They trudged up the stairs to the landing of the fourth floor.

They reached the top of the steps. A door stood in their way, and as Izuku turned the handle, it exploded. Reflexively, he threw himself to the side, pulling Momo out of the blast.

"DIE!" Katsuki yelled, vaulting over his friend and grabbing him by the back of the shirt. The two boys flew down the stairs, and Izuku's mind went into overdrive as he recalled every note he had ever taken on combat. His training with All Might paid off as he rolled to a stand, and Katsuki adjusted his path midair to land on his feet.

"Took you long enough to reach that damn door!" Katsuki grinned, sprinting towards the other boy.

"I kind of expected you to chase us down!" Izuku yelled back, standing stock still. He knew his friend normally opened with a strong right swing, so he shifted to dodge the blow, grabbing his friend's arm and flipping him over his shoulder. Katsuki wasted no time kicking upwards, spinning back towards Izuku to send them both flying again. They contorted midair again, rushing at each other to exchange a rapid series of blows. Nothing landed on either boy.

Of course, Momo wasn't one to be forgotten about. She grabbed Izuku by the arm and hoisted him up in one swift motion, twirling a staff in her hand and whacking the other boy in the face.

"Fuck!" Katsuki screamed, leaping backward. Blood trailed down his chin from a split lip and he smiled ferally, revealing bloody teeth. "You're gonna die for that!"

Momo stood her ground, holding Izuku back. They could probably take him in a two-on-one fight, but it was a risk they couldn't take. Knowing the strength of the two boys, they would cause too much damage to the building, and they'd lose out on points. Katsuki rushed forward, reaching an arm forward to blow them out of the way. Instinctually, Momo raised her shield, preparing to counter the hit, but he jumped off the ground and launched himself over them with an explosion. He disappeared through the doorway.

Meanwhile, Mineta sat at the end of the uppermost hall, lazily tossing balls around. He didn't particularly care where they landed. It would be impossible to lose this exercise if the heroes couldn't get to the weapon without becoming stuck! His idiot teammate had rushed off to get himself captured. Maybe he'd accidentally blow Momo's clothes off. That would be hot.

"Oh, good, you made yourself useful."

"What happened to kicking their asses? Scratch that, what happened to your face?" Mineta said derisively.

"Fuck off. There's two of them and one of me."

"Did you at least damage her costume?"

Bakugo snarled. He was close to using Mineta as a shield. It only made sense that he'd get paired with the most useless person in the class, and they weren't even fun to banter with like Shitlord Kirishima was. Being paired with him sucked, but he could still make the best of it. Looking around, he saw a construction sheet left in the building.

"Cover this with your orbs. When they get here, I'll blow it up and they won't be able to move."

Mineta thought about being disobedient for a moment before realizing how bad for his health it would be. Right as he finished placing the last ball, the door flew open. Katsuki grabbed the sheet from him and prepared to detonate it, but nobody came through the door.

"Huh?" the grape boy said, looking at the hole where the door used to be. In the movies, heroes always rushed into things without checking first.

A tiny periscope peered into the room. If not for the glint of light, Katsuki would never have noticed it. He shoved out his left hand to stop his teammate from getting a closer look and pushed him back before getting closer to the sight. In the sheet-wrapped gauntlet, his hands dripped, anticipating a fight.

The wall next to him exploded as Izuku burst through it, detonating his pinky to knock Katsuki away. His friend's reflexes were a moment too fast, though, and when he saw the orb-coated sheet, he realized he had fallen into a trap.

"Momo! It's a trap!" he cried, leaping in front of the door where his partner would be coming from any second. An explosion sent him flying backward and through a wall, bound by sticky orbs. Katsuki followed instants later, blasting him through the wall he was stuck to and sending them both tumbling into a large, columned room.

Between the force of the explosion and the dust buildup, Mineta's orbs flew off of him, and he stood a little shakily. He knew this was coming, but being blasted through three walls in less than ten seconds was definitely not what he would consider ideal.

"Oi, Deku!"

No, this was definitely not ideal. Katsuki hadn't been quiet about losing in a battle of raw power during the entrance exam. In Izuku's opinion, it really wasn't a loss, but he knew his friend better than to think he would see it that way. In any case, now wasn't the time to think about it. Katsuki always came in with a right hook. He dodged away but stumbled backward as his friend slammed his left fist into his temple.

"I know you're always scheming up there! Get up and fight me like you mean it!"

Bracing himself, he activated One For All and jumped over the next hit, rolling to his feet as he hit the ground and immediately jumped again. Even with his newly enhanced strength, Katsuki was almost overwhelmingly powerful.

"Stop running!" Katsuki yelled, enraged. The speed increase was unsettling. While he wasn't concerned about his chances of winning, he knew Izuku well enough that he knew he wasn't just some wet blanket. In the video games they played together, he'd always been on nearly-even footing with Katsuki, and from a technical standpoint, they were just as well trained to fight as the other. If Izuku now had some strength to back up his style, this might be an actual challenge.

As he rounded a column to catch Izuku, he caught an explosive fist to the face. A second flash hit him a second later as Izuku pulled his ashes back into his hand. The adrenaline made him feel the burn a little less, but his face still tightened as they welded themselves back into skin.

"Damn, that's new," Katsuki said, pulling himself off the ground. Immediately he threw an explosion at Izuku, forcing him to jump away. "But you're still running away!"

Izuku's feet slammed into a pillar, and he immediately launched himself back at Katsuki with a flying punch. He moved to block but was still knocked into the wall by the hit.

He fell to the ground and knelt there for a moment, stunned by the force of the hit. Izuku had turned up the power a _lot_ since they'd last sparred.

He felt Izuku land behind him with the capture tape and shot away, fueled by explosions. "Hell yeah! That's more like it!"

"You're insane, you know that?" Izuku grinned, panting.

Katsuki flew back at him with his fist outstretched, but as Izuku braced, his friend blasted upwards, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him into the ground, kneeling on his chest to pin him there.

"I'm still going to be number one, though," Katsuki smirked, his face the very embodiment of smugness before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed with a thud. Momo stood behind him, her staff outstretched.

"Thanks!" Izuku said, pushing himself to his feet with a grimace. Katsuki hit _hard_.

"Of course! We're a team, right?" she said, helping him up. "Sorry it took me so long, it was hard to find an opening since you guys were going so fast."

They made their way back towards the room where Mineta had been, surprised to see the weapon unguarded. Mineta appeared to have run away while the others were distracted. In the dust and darkness, a little movement in one of the decorative trees went unnoticed until they were too close.

Right before they touched the bomb, Mineta jumped out with a burst of orbs. Before he could slam into Momo, she sent him flying down the hall, bouncing off the floor, the wall, and finally sticking to the ceiling just outside the room.

"The Hero Team has won!"

* * *

Unfortunately, Mineta was crowned as the MVP of the round.

"Young Mineta stayed with the objective and built a solid defense, which can often decide a fight before it happens!" All Might said as he advised them on how to do better next time. He advised Bakugou not to let his emotions get ahead of him, as they can sometimes cloud judgment, and in this case, led to his defeat.

Izuku and Momo sat together for the next few trials, analyzing the battles to put in _Hero Analysis For the Future V. 14_. Where Izuku was more focused on the quirks, Momo proved to be excellent at breaking down the minutiae of each battle, criticizing or praising every move the teams made.

Izuku's jaw dropped as Todoroki froze the whole building, even freezing his teammate. "Compared to that much brute force, I don't know if there's much Sero can do! I haven't seen much of Tokoyami's quirk, but unless he's packing as much force as Todoroki..."

"I think their best bet would be waiting down the timer, it would be easier for them to misdirect Todoroki. It doesn't look like he expected this to take long since he froze Hagakure too," she winced, "That poor girl, it's got to be cold out there. I wish there was some way to make her costume a little less revealing."

"T-there might be!" Izuku blushed. Thinking of the invisible girl's costume, which was basically nudity, was not the sort of thing he was used to. He'd never even considered that part of an invisibility quirk. "If the quirk extends to her hair after it's been taken off her body, they could maybe weave a costume out of it!"

"You should suggest that to her! I'm sure she'd appreciate the advice."

"I, uh, I don't know about that," he said, his face continuing to redden.

"Are you feeling quite alright?" Momo said, looking at him with her brows furrowed.

"Oh! I'm fine, I'm just really not good at t-talking to people."

"I get that! I'll suggest it to her then."

They turned back to the screen, watching as Todoroki grew increasingly frustrated while searching for the weapon. The villains had hidden it quite effectively, and as Momo predicted, Sero had blocked off several rooms and stairwells. While his tape was easy to get through, it made the blocked-off areas look suspicious, and it wasn't until the third floor of the building that Todoroki realized he was being distracted from rushing straight at the top.

Or at least, that's what Todoroki thought, but when he reached the top, he saw no sign of the weapon. His freezing of the building had coated several windows and made it easier to darken the interior. Mixed with some shifted boxes and tape, he'd effectively created the perfect environment for Tokoyami's quirk, which seemed to grow more powerful in the absence of light.

Todoroki opened the door to the room and entered carefully. The first sign that something was off was the darkness, the second was when the door slammed shut behind him, blocked now by several crates, and the third was the massive claw which shattered through his hastily-erected ice shield.

Izuku winced as he saw it. It was difficult to tell from the cameras, but Tokoyami's Dark Shadow seemed to have become a sort of armor suit for the boy. Todoroki slid back towards the door on a slide of ice, but it was immediately broken by the shadow, sending him skidding across the cracked ice.

Even for such a riveting fight happening, he still noticed the other camera view showing something he hadn't expected. Hagakure had broken out of the ice and was probably running into the building, though it was difficult to tell because of her invisibility. If she could find the right room unnoticed, she could end the exercise herself!

Meanwhile, Todoroki slid to an exterior wall, and before Tokoyami realized what he was doing, he struck. The wall shattered instantly, letting light in and meekening Tokoyami's quirk. He tried to defend against the ice blast that followed, but his quirk just couldn't match the raw power in the other boy.

"Tokoyami has been captured!" All Might announced as capture tape was wrapped around the villain.

Sero looked at the ceiling as dust rained down on him, blinking rapidly as it got stuck in his eyes. He was here at the bottom of the building with the bomb, hiding in a maintenance closet. Steam filled the room, a side effect of his breathing and the cold environment, but he didn't think anyone would notice. He'd already heard Todoroki going up the stairs, but based on the things he heard Hagakure yelling, she had been as lucky as he was when it came to the ice wielder. His feet had barely melted now, maybe twelve minutes into the exercise.

Three minutes later the exercise was called as the timer rang, and became clear that neither of the heroes had a clue where the weapon was. Sero was announced to be the MVP of the round, but he made sure they all knew it was mostly Tokoyami's plan. After he'd seen the first round, he'd notice how Midoriya and Momo had failed to check the rooms on the first floor entirely and had come up with their strategy of drawing them away from the bomb.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by after that, and before Izuku knew it, he was back at home, sitting on his bed and reading through the hero news that had popped up that day. A villain had attacked a passenger train in Musutafu today, and their quirk seemed to have been boosted by some variety of drugs. There had been several of these enhancement drugs sold on the streets before, but this one was on a different level.

Their simple telekinesis quirk had mutated into something far stronger, and they'd briefly levitated the train, holding the passengers hostage in exchange for money. Unfortunately, they weren't able to de-escalate the situation before the drug wore off and the main fainted under the strain. Two people were killed when the train came crashing to the ground.

It was of special interest to Izuku because of its interaction with quirks. The amount of power it gave even minor quirks was frightening. He imagined someone like that slime villain getting his hands on it and shuddered. Fighting villains that were that powered up would be hard for most pro heroes, let alone the police.

* * *

Even as early as he was, there were members of the press waiting at the school the next day. The sun had barely broken over the horizon when he was swarmed with microphones and flashing cameras, the reporters eager to get news about All Might's employment at the school.

"Young man! Can you tell me a bit about what it's like to be taught by the number one hero?"

"H-he's inspiring! It's like you might expect of a symbol like him!" Izuku said nervously, trying his best to get through the crowd.

"What are his classes like?" another one yelled, shoving a microphone in his face.

"I, uh-" Izuku began before a scarf tied itself around his body and yanked him to the gates of the school.

"Do not harass my students," Aizawa said, glowering at the now-booing crowd. He glanced at Izuku. "Head to class."

Iida and Momo greeted him as he walked in, still a little shaken from the press.

"Did the press give you a hard time too, Izuku?" Momo asked.

"Yeah, but I think they're really just trying to get an easy story. It's no big deal," he said, trying to smile.

"How shameful of them! I struggle to see how they can stand to pester students before their classes," Iida said, gesturing rigidly with his hands. It looked like all of them had had similar experiences with the reporters. They talked briefly about the reporters' audacity but quickly exhausted that line of conversation.

In the time they had left til the bell rang, Momo brought up an idea for Izuku's quirk.

"Can you burn anywhere other than your arms? You might be able to become intangible for just long enough to allow an attack to pass through you, with the added benefit of possibly burning an attacker."

"In theory, I think I could burn my whole body, but in practice… Well, I still have nerve damage from the entrance exam, and I'm hoping to learn how to fix that before I try anything much harder than that. If I tried that with my head, it could either kill me or cause brain damage."

Momo turned green. "That would definitely be bad. Avoiding brain damage is definitely a good idea."

They didn't talk much after that. Their classmates shuffled in, and finally the bell rang.

"Choose a class president. I don't really care how."

Aizawa's deadpan announcement was followed immediately by an outburst of noise as students shouted their ideas for how to choose, or simply announcing their intention of filling the role.

"Quietly! The only thing that I care about is that you do it _quietly_," Aizawa glared, receding into his sleeping bag and sipping on a juice box.

Iida raised his hand for a moment before realizing nobody had any intention of telling him to speak. "We should do this democratically, with each person voting for who they think would make the best leader! The sacred position of office should not be earned just by _wanting_ it."

Everybody settled down for a moment and nodded until Tsuyu pointed out a flaw in his system, "Won't everyone just vote for themselves? Most of us don't really know each other that well yet."

"Exactly! This way, we know that anyone who received more than one vote for themself truly deserves it!" came his rebuttal.

They tallied their votes on the board, and in a few minutes, they had their results.

Momo Yaoyorozu: 5 votes

Izuku Midoriya: 4 votes

Katsuki Bakugou: 2 votes

Several people got 1 vote, but the top 3 were the only ones to stand out.

Momo hadn't expected to win in the slightest. She'd chosen to vote for Midoriya, but he'd still lost by a vote.

"I didn't expect to win!" Momo said, standing up and smiling. "I'm honored! I'll do my best! And Izuku, I guess that makes you my Vice President!"

"I really don't know how I got three votes! A-are you sure you wouldn't rather have Katsuki?"

"Shut up, Izuku! I voted for you! Don't try to push this off on me!" Katsuki raged, torn between wanting the position and knowing it wasn't his type of work.

"See? You'll do great! Besides, I voted for you too!" Momo assured him.

"I, too, voted for you. I admit I am frustrated to not receive a single vote, but I shouldn't be surprised. Do your best, Midoriya!" Iida joined.

Uraraka briefly considered announcing her vote, but Aizawa got up before she could.

"With that out of the way, you have the rest of the class time to study. Keep the chatter to a minimum."

* * *

**I think I'll end that there. ~6400 words is a little shorter than I'm used to, but I'm itching to get this out there. It's been four months too long and I'm sorry about that. There will likely be edits made to this chapter at some point, right now it's going out damn near unread,**


	5. Forecast for Tragedy

**A/N: I started this back in April, and then got cold feet about writing, and now Winter's rolled around and I'm re-writing the whole thing because I got better ideas. I owe all of you an apology for leaving you hanging - it's coming, it's better, and with any luck, you'll love it.**

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, the new Class President and Vice President were famished.

"This rice is amazing! It reminds me of home!" Momo cheered around a mouthful.

"It's good!" Izuku tried to smile. Internally, though, he was screaming. His class had voted him into an important position, but he really wasn't qualified for the position. It was really just his friends who voted for him. "Sorry to keep talking about it, but are you guys really sure that I'm the best person to have a job like this?"

"You're fine! I would be nervous too! You're definitely one of the best people for the job. The way you do things is awesome, you don't give up!" Uraraka said, putting down her nearly-empty bowl of rice.

"Your bravery hasn't gone unnoticed, Midoriya," said Iida, also putting his food down. "That's why I voted for you."

"Didn't you want to be class president, though?" Momo asked.

"Yes, but as I said, the difference between wanting it and deserving it is important. I merely did what I believed was correct."

"Your attitude is admirable, Iida," Tokoyami added, as he sat down. "I do not know that I would have done the same, were it me in your shoes."

"It's nothing," Iida said, trying his hardest to be humble. "I'm sure-"

An alarm cut him off, ringing through the cafeteria.

"An alarm? What for?" Izuku said, standing up from the table to follow the flow of panicked students.

As if responding to him, a mechanical voice said, "There has been a Level 3 security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly."

"What's Level 3 security?" Iida questioned a nearby third-year.

"It means someone broke into the school! I've been here three years and I've never seen it happen! You should get out with everyone else!"

The hall to the exit was extremely crowded, and the pushing, elbowing students didn't help. Momo was pushed up against the glass in seconds, and Izuku spotted her from a few feet away.

"Momo! Can you see anything out there?"

"It's just the press! Hold on, I have an idea! Do you see Uraraka?"

"I'm over here!" her voice called out, as she pushed her way towards them. "What do you need?"

"Use your quirk on me and lift me over the crowd a little!" she said, pulling a megaphone out from under her shirt. As she rose up a few feet, she spoke into it: "It's just the press! Everyone stay calm! This is U.A., you all ought to know better than to push and shove!"

The assembled students quickly quieted down, with a few muttered apologies. It took several minutes, but after Momo's reprimand, they managed to all make their way out the doors. From there, they could see the police beginning to round up the reporters, pulling the unruly mob away from the entrance.

* * *

Izuku relaxed against his bed, staring at the ceiling. Most nights, it was still hard for him to sleep, even when it had been a long day. He knew he was supposed to clear his mind, but how was he supposed to do that? When else did he really have time to think about the day, and what tomorrow would bring?

"_They really trust me to be a good vice president. I wish I knew what that really entailed," _he thought to himself. "_We're three days in, but I still don't feel really prepared."_

It was tempting to go to Toshinori for advice, but somehow, it didn't seem likely that the man would know what to do either. After knowing him for nearly a year it was obvious that the man was more of a practical guy than a thinker. If he couldn't go to Toshinori, who could he go to?

He opened his phone and swiped open his messages. Momo's account sat at the top, but he hadn't actually messaged her yet. She'd made him add her yesterday, since they were friends and that's what friends did, but he couldn't make up the nerve to text her. He opened it and thought about messaging her, but checked the time. Sending a message at midnight would be kind of weird, right? Even so, it tempted him. Before he could begin typing, though, a little face popped up.

_Momo is typing…_ it read, with little animations of typing. He wished his account looked as good as hers did. It was a strange thing to envy, but hers looked really cute next to his plain one.

_Momo: "I didn't expect you to be up so late! I wasn't sure if I should text you. Are you doing alright?"_

_Izuku: "Yeah, I'm fine. I just really don't know if I'm cut out to do anything like this vice president thing. I'm glad you're the president"_

_Momo: "Aw, thank you! I'm glad you're the vice president. That's actually what I was going to text you about."_

_Izuku: "I appreciate your confidence in me :) was there anything you needed?"_

_Momo: "Well, I think we still have a few positions open. Treasury, secretary, and faculty representative. I want to fill those tomorrow, but I'm having trouble picking people!"_

_Izuku: "Oh, do you want suggestions or just someone to bounce ideas off of?"_

_Momo: "Suggestions would be awesome, it's way past the time I'm normally up so I want to get this done asap"_

_Izuku: "I think Kirishima would make a good faculty representative. Katsuki's mentioned him a few times and how he works really hard. I think he'd be good because he doesn't get nervous easily."_

_Momo: "Yeah, that makes sense. We can announce that tomorrow morning. Any others?"_

_Izuku: "Maybe Iida would be a good secretary, he holds himself to really strict standards so he would be good at keeping us organized. Uraraka could be our treasurer, or maybe Katsuki… Is that too many people who are our friends? Is it okay to have all of us be friends?"_

_Momo: "If it works, it works! I like those ideas. I like Uraraka more for treasurer, she seems a little more sane than Katsuki haha"_

_Izuku: "He's not so bad once you get past his bad parts!"_

Half an hour later, Izuku yawned, and realized it was nearly one in the morning.

_Izuku: "Sorry, I just realized how late it is! I didn't mean to keep you up, sorry"_

_Momo: "I'm just as guilty as you are, I didn't realize either. Are you going to sleep?"_

_Izuku: "I probably should. I normally can't sleep til a little later than now anyway."_

_Momo: "I'm almost jealous of that, I really like the night but I always get tired early."_

_Izuku: "It's a blessing and a curse."_

_Momo: "If I ask how, I think I'll be up til sunrise! On that note, goodnight Izuku!"_

_Izuku: "Goodnight Momo, thanks for texting me! It was fun. We should talk more at a better time of day!"_

Izuku turned his phone off and smiled. Having more than one friend was nice.

* * *

"Today's hero basic training has changed gears a bit," Aizawa announced. "We had originally planned more tasks like last week's, but we changed our minds. Instead, we're doing rescue training."

"What kind of rescue training?" several students questioned.

"Shipwrecks, earthquakes, storms, and everything in between. The activity takes place at an off-site, so we'll be taking a bus. You can choose between wearing your hero costume or just your gym uniform. Get ready and meet back here in ten minutes."

Everyone, of course, decided to wear their costumes. In most cases they were more comfortable than the gym uniforms. They changed quickly and Momo led them out the front of the building, where they lined up to get on the bus. As the class presidents, they boarded last, and sat with Kaminari at the back of the bus.

"Hey, Midoriya!"

"Um, yes, Kaminari?"

"You're really good at quirk stuff, right?"

"He's great at it!" Momo said.

"I-I'm really not that good at it, it's just a hobby of mine."

Kaminari shrugged. "That sounds like you're just trying to be humble. I'll take President Yaoyorozu's word for it! Anyway, do you have any tips on how to use my lightning? I've never really thought to ask anyone about it."

"Oh, yeah! I think I've got a journal around here somewhere. Momo and I took notes on it during your mock battle last week."

"Really? That's so cool! Thanks, guys!"

"It's no trouble! It really is just a hobby of mine, and if I take notes on your quirk, you really have a right to see them anyway! I think your quirk is really strong, it has a lot of potential!"

"Yeah, I'm kind of jealous of your quirk, Kaminari! My quirk's nowhere near as flashy as yours is. It must be nice to have an emitter-type quirk," Kirishima piped up, hardening his skin to show how boring it was.

"No, your quirk is awesome too, Kirishima! It's definitely the type of quirk a pro hero would have! It might not look like much, but from what I've seen, it goes way beyond most of the simple defensive quirks like it!"

"Wow, really? Thanks! I think, if we're talking about power, Bakugou and Todoroki might be the strongest in the class!"

"Hey, do you have any notes about _my_ quirk?" Aoyama said from his position across the aisle.

"What about mine?" Mina asked, bobbing up and down in her seat.

"I-I mean, I kind of have notes on everyone, but it would take a really long time to get through everyone, and it's a short bus ride, so… maybe later? We could do a study group or something!" Izuku said, warming up to the idea. It would be kind of like teaching!

"I love the idea! Maybe we could make it a regular thing, to make sure everyone maintains high grades!" Momo agreed. "We should also set up a group chat, so we can keep in contact for when we're not at school!"

* * *

USJ was far larger than anything they had been expecting. The dome contained everything from a small mountain to a city block, complete with burning buildings to properly make it seem like a catastrophe was taking place. All in all, it was the most orderly disaster they'd ever seen, almost like a half-destroyed theme park.

"Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, USJ!" the space-themed hero Thirteen called from the end of the opening steps.

Izuku was surprised he didn't see Toshinori, considering that he normally taught Hero Basic Training, but suspected he had overrun his limit and couldn't show up for the class. A few others also picked up on his absence, though they didn't have his inside information.

Momo raised her hand. "Sir, will All Might be joining us for this class?"

Aizawa's face twitched a little. "No, unfortunately. Something came up. He may show up near the end of class, but don't count on it. Without further delay, let's get to work!"

"Actually, before we begin, I need to say one or two things! Or three! Actually, this may take a moment!" Thirteen announced cheerily, much to the chagrin of the class. "My quirk is Black Hole. It lets me pull anything in, and turn it to dust."

Uraraka nodded her head furiously, ecstatic to meet one of her favorite heroes. "You've saved a lot of people with it!"

"Yes, I have, but it could just as easily kill people," the hero responded in a sobering tone. "One of the reasons we've brought you here today is to work on tempering your quirks with skill. A lot of a hero's work is saving lives following a disaster, not just fighting villains! I'm sure many of you have powerful quirks that could be used to save a lot of people, but the flip side of that is that they could also hurt a lot of people! With all the training you've been doing lately, you've probably seen most of what your quirk can do when it's not being regulated. Keep that in mind during these simulations, and don't go too far with them! That is all, thank you!"

The class cheered, thanking them for their rousing speech. More excited to begin than ever, they turned to their homeroom teacher, only to see his face shift from boredom to alarm in an instant.

A voice spoke. "All Might's not here? I wonder if a few dead kids will drag him out."

"Class! Evacuate the building and stay together! Thirteen, protect them!"

For a moment, they were confused, before following Aizawa's line of sight to a dark whirlwind in the middle of the plaza below them. The lights in the building exploded, and the fountain behind the arriving villains sputtered to a halt.

A man stepped from the maelstrom, his face obscured by a pale hand. Other whirlwinds began popping up around the building, a few in each of the rescue zones, and villains poured out. The portal in the plaza grew until it was almost crowded with people, all slowly making their way towards the stairs where the students were.

Despite his pounding heart, Izuku took stock of the situation. Only three of the villains weren't moving; the guy dressed in all black with a hand on his face, a relaxed-looking man with severe scarring on his face and blue fire dancing around his hands, and the monstrous figure of a shirtless, bird-beaked man with an exposed brain. Those three were probably the kingpins of whatever operation was happening.

"Mr. Aizawa! Those three down there-" he said pointing to the villains he'd seen.

Aizawa nodded without taking his gaze off the threat. "Good eye, Midoriya. Don't worry about me, get yourself to safety!"

"B-but there's so many of them!"

"Do as I say!" the teacher said, removing the scarf from his neck and whipping it towards the closest villain.

The speed at which his teacher closed the distance surprised Izuku. Aizawa's quirk didn't enhance his physical abilities, but he was apparently more than a match for his first dozen opponents _at once_. He'd dropkick an enemy, reel in another with his scarf, and slam them into the ground with the palm of his hand.

"Young man, get away from there!" Thirteen shouted as his class backed away,

It wasn't in Izuku's nature to turn and run from someone who looked like they needed help, but he couldn't ignore direct orders from his mentors.

They only made it halfway to the door.

"How adorable, the little heros think they can make an escape," a new voice said, as the air in front of them rippled and spat out another pitch-black whirlwind, this time with glowing eyes and a metallic business suit. "No, we can't have that at all. It wouldn't fit into our plan. We, the League of villains, are here to end the life of the hero All Might. Of course, this was under the impression that the man himself would be here, but he seems to be absent."

The class slid to a halt several paces from the man, and behind them, Thirteen flipped open the tip of their glove in preparation to use their quirk.

"Not if I stop you first!" Bakugou and Kirishima shouted simultaneously, leaping at the villain.

And then the man simply wasn't there. He was suddenly floating twenty feet above them, a shape like black flames that bent space itself silhouetted against the sun.

"Whatever the case, my role here is done. Good luck to you."

Portals opened under their feet and the group fell into the abyss.

* * *

Falling into black fire is about as fun as it sounds. Izuku found himself falling face first through the void for a second or two before space distorted and he realized he was four hundred feet off the ground. His skin grew tight as heat and smoke rushed up to meet him as he fell toward the city zone, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Bakugou about three meters away.

"Katsuki!" he screamed, desperate against the roar of the wind. His friend looked at him, took a moment to process it, and blasted over to him. The tops of buildings passed them in an instant and the sun disappeared behind a cloud of smoke. A second later and Katsuki unleashed a large blast, propelling them upwards and saving them from becoming grease stains.

"You're welcome," he said from where he was bent over, gasping from the air pressure.

For a moment, Izuku just sat there, glad to be alive. Unfortunately, life had other plans, and he tensed as he saw a magma-horned villain charging at them.

"Katsuki!"

Before he could move, his friend blew the guy away with a well-aimed explosion. Izuku stood and took stock of their situation.

On the plus side, he was theoretically very strong in this sort of environment. Katsuki would be sweating buckets, which meant he would pack a punch as well. It was fortunate that the two of them had been dropped in this environment rather than the others, and it meant that the attackers probably didn't know what the students' quirks were. As it stood, they were on better footing with the intruders than they had expected.

Around them, multiple tall buildings groaned and belched flames from their windows. It almost reminded them of the sludge villain incident, but this time, they had a little bit of practice under their belts. Down both ends of the street, Izuku could see figures approaching through the smoke. Katsuki noticed them at the same time.

"You take one side of the street, I'll take the other," rasped Katsuki, carefully watching the closest villain for any hints about what to expect.

"They said this would be a challenge! Why the hell are there little kids here?"

"Go to hell," Katsuki said, pulling the pin out of one of his costume's gauntlets. The ground shook with the force of the explosion and enemies screamed as it picked them up and flung them against walls.

On Izuku's side, a man darted forward, attempting to roast him with streams of fire from his hands. Izuku punched forward with his left arm first, using One For All in tandem with his quirk. He'd been wary of trying this ever since the entrance exam. In a situation like this, he didn't have the time he needed to think, and his arm exploded, becoming a high velocity cloud of ash that knocked several villains away. After the shock wore off, he fell to a knee in agony, feeling the heat rip away his limb.

Unlike the first time he had tried this, he wasn't still falling from the sky. Now that he had a moment to think, he could still sense his arm in the form of the ash cloud. He pulled on the ash cloud and again they welded themselves back together, superheated. As the ashes rushed together, he brought the fires in the area back with them, coating his arms in a dense layer of churning flames.

Katsuki punched a bull-headed man in the jaw and sent him flying. Even with all the sweat he was producing, these guys were beginning to wear him down. There seemed to be an endless amount of enemies, and there were only two of them. Three assailants rushed him at once, and after dodging a blob of lava, he spun on one foot to knock one of them over. Before he could get a hit in, he was cornered by the other two, and jumped back.

"Izuku! Let's hit them at the same time!" he yelled.

"Right!"

Izuku spun around to face Katsuki's batch of villains, and as his friend pulled the pin from his remaining grenade, he threw all his strength into his left arm. A cloud of fire and ashes roared down the street, lifting everything from cars to chunks of concrete. Villains screamed as they were trapped under debris and rendered helpless.

The two boys ran forward toward the edge of the zone, from where they could see the central plaza. The sun brightened as they reached it, and from here, they could see Aizawa still fighting. As they watched, their teacher ducked under a projectile and slammed two opponents together, whipping their entangled bodies at a third, who promptly screamed and fainted. The enemies tumbled away, spinning as the hero pulled his scarf weapon back to him.

From this position, Izuku couldn't see the central fountain. He didn't see any of the three men he had noticed earlier among the fallen. If his instincts were right, those would be the most dangerous opponents their teacher would face. He stepped forward, intending to make his way down to their teacher, but Katsuki stopped him.

"Don't just rush down there. We'd probably distract him."

"T-that's fair. Still, we need to get out of here before those guys regroup. I don't think we could pull another move like that."

Katsuki grunted out his agreement and turned to look toward the entrance gates. From this distance, his classmates were little more than specks, and a cloud of darkness hovered over them. The gates opened for a moment, not quite wide enough to see through, but enough to notice.

"Did you see that? The door opened by itself," he said.

"I don't think it was by itself. I think Hagakure may have slipped past them!" Izuku exclaimed, proud of his invisible classmate for her gutsy move. If one of their classmates truly had escaped, help would be on its way soon.

Their optimism was short-lived. From the corner of their eyes, they saw motion in the plaza once again, and the hand-faced man who had heralded the arrival of the villains ran towards their teacher. He dodged the scarf Aizawa flung at him and reached for the teacher, only to be slammed in the stomach by a well-placed elbow.

Aizawa pulled his limb from the man's grasp, but the damage was done. In the instant his eyes had been closed, his enemy had used his quirk. He grimaced as his skin flaked off and his arm decayed at the joint. Around him, villains began to brush themselves off and stand. One by one, their teacher fought off assailants, even despite his ruined arm.

Izuku's fists clenched, desperate to do something. They were just sitting there watching him get beat down and mocked by a psychopath with a hand fetish. His muscles tightened as he prepared to run in with a plan he'd make on the way. Even as Katsuki reached out, he froze.

A blur moved across the battlefield and stood ominously behind Aizawa for a moment. The bird-beaked creature they had seen earlier had made its first move, too fast to follow. It slammed Aizawa into the ground, shattering his goggles. Blood pooled under his face. The world seemed to tilt and Izuku's veins ran cold.

"_Is he- did they kill him?"_

Katsuki's breath became shallow as he stared at the rapidly-growing puddle under his teacher. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. He'd heard that they had a plan to defeat All Might, but it was hard to take any threat like that seriously. All Might was an unmatched figure, undefeated throughout his career. And yet, he was beginning to have his doubts about their safety. These guys wouldn't be here if they didn't have a plan, a _weapon_ capable of killing the number one hero. He'd never seen speed and strength like that in anyone except All Might himself.

As he watched that man walk so casually towards their downed teacher, something inside him _broke_, and he shakily raised his fist. Sweat dripped off his hand and sizzled against the ground.

Izuku's head jerkily turned to see his friend with cornered eyes. His lips wouldn't let him form the words, but he silently pleaded. _No_.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Katsuki roared and sent the strongest blast he could produce directly at the voice behind them. An overtaxed building crumbled to the ground a hundred yards away, showering them with debris, and silhouetted against the flames with the figure of the last of the three men Izuku had seen. Blue fire filled his hands and his cheeks tightened in a way that implied he was smiling.

"I'd expect a little more control from such a prestigious school, but I guess you _are_ just a kid."

"And who the fuck are you?" Katsuki growled, every muscle in his body tensed, wanting to melt anything that so much as whispered.

"You can call me Dabi. We won't be meeting again," he said, and the dust rippled as the fireballs grew larger. Both Izuku and Katsuki sensed what he was planning a moment before he put it into action.

They dodged to opposite sides as a gargantuan blast cleared the air, sprinting towards Dabi the second their feet touched the ground again. Dabi's smile was haunting as Izuku saw fire building up in his other hand, aimed directly at Katsuki. Izuku's leg shattered as he pushed One For All past its limits in his body, knocking the man away from them and sending Izuku crashing into Katsuki's side.

"Jeez, kids these days pack a punch," Dabi said, pushing himself off a piece of concrete. His smile was gone now, replaced by a terrifying glower. He raised his palms toward them, and Izuku flooded both of his arms with One For All.

"Get off me, jackass!" Katsuki screamed, shoving him away and meeting Dabi's blast with one of his own. The world went white as the two fireballs met, and they were sent flying once more. Izuku's leg flared with pain, and only adrenaline kept him from losing consciousness right there. He couldn't see Katsuki or Dabi anymore, and he whimpered as he saw his leg. It was almost purple, and he was sure he had pretty severe internal bleeding after the amount of force he'd put on it. Down the street, another blast echoed, though he couldn't tell from who.

He took stock of the situation. He was now alone and injured, but he couldn't see any immediate threats. Around the edge of a building, he could see the plaza, where Aizawa-

His breath caught in his throat. The hand villain reached for his teacher's face.

Izuku turned away, unable to watch.

And then, with a loud crash, a meteor entered through the roof, sending the beastly creature that held Aizawa down flying. In a blur, he picked Aizawa up, placing him on the ground several metres away.

"It's fine now. I am here."

This was not the Toshinori that Izuku knew. His eyes blazed with power and a fury Katsuki would be hard-pressed to match. In all the clips of All Might he had ever seen, the man was smiling.

His trademark grin was absent today, and that never boded well.

The beast blurred back into sight, too fast to track, and All Might caught the blow.

"You thought to lure me here by injuring my students? I am here. Tell me, villain, what exactly you think you can do now that you have me?"

In response, the monster screamed, lunging towards Toshinori's face. They tussled for an instant, changing grips thrice in a second, before All Might's foot slipped. The loss of leverage for even a second left the beast with the upper hand, and it tossed All Might into the air before rocketing upwards and slamming into his back. Mid-air, the hero turned to deliver a monstrous backhand.

Izuku's eyes lit up despite the pain, his old instincts coming back to him. Watching heroes fight evil always seemed to dilate time for him, so he never missed a single detail. Lightheaded as he was, his grin didn't fall off until he noticed the most important detail to his personal safety: first of all, the villain was now flying at him, and second of all, that meant a gust of wind was coming with it.

Buildings shattered overhead as a wailing monster broke through them, apparently uninjured, and an instant later the winds hit. He spiraled down the street, disoriented by the shock of it, before something slammed into him and knocked the air from his lungs.

"Were you just going to stand there and watch another villain fight while I got shit done? Typical Deku. Get up."

Izuku choked and coughed as dust made its way into his empty lungs before he finally found himself able to breathe. "Thanks for the save, Kacchan."

"Don't call me Kacchan. I only get to call you Deku because you weren't thinking," Katsuki said, extending a hand to help his friend up. He draped Izuku's arm over his shoulder to keep the weight off his bad leg, and they limped down the street.

"What ever happened to Dabi?"

"He got away. Once he saw All Might, he decided the jig was up. Didn't even give me the chance to blow one of his stupid face scars off."

"What about-"

"No, my turn," Katsuki growled, cutting him off. "What happened to that guy they brought?"

"Huh?"

"Stop being Deku. You know, that big guy with the weird-ass brain?"

Before Izuku could respond, something disturbed the dust in front of them. Firelight flickered and out of the darkness strode the monster itself.

"Son of a bitch," Katsuki said, and he pushed Izuku away to deal with the new threat, explosions crackling in his hands.

"Katsuki, no!" Izuku said, yanking his friend away and pulling them both to the floor.

"What the fuck-"

Their ears popped and the dust cleared as a blur shot past them, slamming into the beast.

"My boys, you need to get out of here."

"A-all-" Katsuki stuttered, his face paling in the dim light, as his eyes traced the stationary figures in front of them. Izuku tugged at his friend's shirt as he tried to crawl away, but Katsuki was frozen.

Nobody had ever caught a punch like that and lived. All Might was the most powerful being on the planet, right? And yet, the beast in front of them was holding back the number one hero with one hand.

"Kacchan! Get your ass up, let's go!"

Katsuki scuttled backwards on all fours before grabbing Izuku and standing up, half-dragging his friend away. "What the fuck is going on right now?"

"I think they're trying to kill him!"

* * *

Toshinori hadn't fought an enemy like this in ages, and if it weren't such a serious situation, this would have been a lot of fun. The kind of villains who could take more than one punch were luckily rare, and the kind that could withstand a full strength barrage were simply nonexistent. He grunted with exertion as he punched, letting loose with as much strength as he could.

"You know, most villains are more talkative than this!"

"Raaargh!"

He cocked his fist back and felt the roar of One For All in his heart like the old days.

* * *

**A/N: This is it for this version of Ashwalker. I've moved to AO3 until I reach the same point I'm at with this draft of the story, but I will be back - rest assured. Thank you.**


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